LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, Jan. 27: The special PMLA court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma today framed charges against illegal stone mining scam accused Pankaj Mishra and Bacchu Yadav. Both are currently in judicial custody in connection with this scam which is worth over Rs. 1000 crore. The third accused, Prem Prakash, has filed a discharge petition, hence, his matter was kept in abeyance till the court passes any order in this matter.
Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the ED has named him as a mastermind of the scam.
In another development, the PMLA court rejected Pankaj Mishra’s complaint petition against Assistant Director of the ED Deovrata Jha who is the investigating officer.
Pankaj Mishra had accused Deovrata of suppressing facts of the case and implicated him on wrong premises. But the court observed that Deovrata Jha did not suppress any of the facts of this case and investigation is being done under provisions of the PMLA Act.
The ED is investigating an illegal mining case on the basis of the ECIR when the agency took up the Barharwa toll plaza case for investigation.
Also known as tender scam, the FIR was lodged by Pakur-based businessman Shambhu Nandan Prasad at Barharwa Police station in June 2020 in Sahibganj district. He had named state minister Alamgir Alam and Pankaj Mishra among the accused of the case.
On June 20, 2020 an auction took place for collection of toll tax on Barharwa road. It is alleged that Alamgir Alam wanted the auction in favour of IA Ingicons Pvt Limited, a company owned by his brother. Pankaj Mishra allegedly made a call to Shambhu Nandan from the mobile phone of the minister and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not fall in line.
But as he refused to withdraw and somehow participated in the auction he was assaulted. Shambhu Nandan Kumar lodged an FIR at the Barharwa police station on June 21 against Alamgir Alam, Pankaj Mishra and others under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (member of the unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 379 (to commit theft), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 504 (Intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
Pankaj Mishra claimed that the police dropped his name from the case as no evidence of his involvement was found. The chargesheet did not mention his name. The ED countered the allegation and said that it placed facts as mentioned in the FIR and said that the chargesheet was submitted accordingly. It never stated that the chargesheet mentioned the name of Pankaj Mishra. The ED stated that money laundering is a separate offence.
