VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 17: The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday extensively heard the public interest litigation related to the mining lease to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, allegations of shell companies being used to launder money, and involvement of suspended Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal in the MNREGA scam in Khunti.
A Division bench of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad deferred the hearing till May 19. The court said that the mining secretary Pooja Singhal was arrested on the charge of money laundering and later on suspended. But the state did not take any legal action, namely the FIR.
Arguing on the behalf of the Jharkhand government, senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal said that the investigation of the MGNREGA scam cannot be handed over to the CBI as there is no FIR.
Apparently, Kapil Sibal was not properly briefed when the lawyer of petitioners Rajiv Kumar as well as Tushar Mehta, solicitor general of India corrected him and said that as many as 16 FIRs were lodged in this regard in 2010. The enforcement directorate is investigating this case on the basis of these FIRs.
The court directed the state government to submit details of all 16 cases before it.
On this Kapil Sibal contended that when the state has already investigated the case there is no need to hand over the investigation to the CBI. He said that the state is aggrieved and being targeted.
Rajiv Kumar on this said that the state police has botched up the investigation and suppressed the matter as Pooja Singhal and many high officials are involved in the corruption. He said that the raid against Pooja Singhal and the ongoing money laundering probe has established that powerful persons are involved in the money laundering and a powerful syndicate is involved in the money laundering. So, the case should be handed over to the CBI. He said that the allegation against Chief Minister Hemant Soren and others for laundering money through shell companies and corruption charges against the suspended Secretary of the mining and industry department Pooja Singhal is a part of the entire gamut of corruption that needed to be investigated.
The Chief Justice asked Kapil Sibal as to why the state government is opposing an investigation by the CBI.
” The mining secretary has been arrested and suspended. But the state has not lodged any FIR. We have not passed any order to restrict the state or anybody to lodge an FIR. You are concerned about loss but you are not concerned about how the law should be implemented,” the chief justice said.
Kapil Sibal questioned the credentials of the petitioners and said that PIL should be dismissed. He also referred to some judgements of the supreme court regarding the misuse of PIL. Kapil Sibal said that the petitioner should have approval from the competent authority to lodge a complaint. Rajiv Kumar retorted and said that the Supreme Court has not defined the credential of a PIL petitioner in any of its judgement.
Tushar Mehta appearing for the enforcement directorate said that investigation by the agency has established that shell companies were used to launder money and Ravi Kejriwal has corroborated this fact in his statement.
The chief justice also heard the matter related to a counter affidavit filed by Ranchi deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan regarding the stone mining lease issued to Chief Minister Hemant Soren at Angara. He directed the advocate general Rajiv Kumar to explain to the court that in what capacity Ranchi deputy commissioner filed the affidavit. The court also took up the matter related to the security of petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma and the lawyer Rajiv Kumar.
The advocate general said that one bodyguard has been provided to Rajiv Kumar who stays with him from 10:00 am to 5 pm. To this, the chief justice said that the security should be round the clock. The court also took up the matter related to Rajiv Kumar allegedly threatened by Ranchi deputy commissioner. The advocate general said that Rajiv Kumar has made false allegations. Rajiv Kumar said that he has digital evidence to suggest that the Ranchi deputy commissioner had called him and asked him to come to his residence where he was threatened and the very next day the deputy commissioner gave him a missed call.
