VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Nov 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to prosecute controversial district mining officer of Sahibganj Bibhuti Kumar besides mining officials of Pakur Pradeep Sah and Krishna Chandra Kisku of Dumka as a co-accused in the illegal stone mining case along with the jailed ex-Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal and her Chartered accountant Suman Kumar Singh. Authoritative sources confirmed these three mining officers were part of the illegal mining scam worth Rs 1000 crore.
“Suman Kumar Singh collected cut money of illegal stone mining on behalf of the mining secretary. Evidence suggests that these mining officials paid money to Suman Kumar Singh on a monthly basis which ran in lakhs. Sometimes additional payments were also made. For internal communication and confirmation of the payment they were using the code word Kilo to denote a lakh,” sources said.
The Lagatar24 on May 16 had reported the ED suspects three district mining officers as Pooja Singhal’s accomplices in money laundering. Pooja Singahl and Suman Kumar Singh were arrested in the MNREGA scam case. But during the investigation, the ED questioned a number of mining officers. But these three mining officers were extensively questioned by the ED.
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Sources said that Suman Kumar Singh was acting on behalf of Pooja Singhal. Many mining officers have revealed that Suman Kumar Singh also demanded money from them. Some of them were transferred after they refused to meet his demand. Sahibganj mining officer Bibhuti Kumar remained under scanner of the ED since the initial phase of the investigation. Sahibganj has emerged as the theatre of illegal stone mining.
Name of Bibhuti Kumar also figures in one of the FIRs which the ED is investigating in the instant case of illegal stone mining. An FIR was lodged against him at Taljhari police station in December last year along with Pankaj Mishra and seven to eight other persons. The FIR was lodged under section 384 and others of the IPC besides SC / ST Act. Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The ED arrested and chargesheeted him in the illegal mining scam.
Bibhuti Kumar is alleged to have given free hands to an illegal mining syndicate headed by Pankaj Mishra. The fact of the illegal mining was ascertained during five days’ joint verification by the ED and the local officials on August 25. A number of sites were located where Pankaj Mishra had conducted illegal mining. He has been posted in Sahibganj for more than three years. Sources in the department said that he overstayed his period. But despite that he has not been transferred.
