VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Jan. 2: Jharkhand, a sleepy state of northern India which otherwise remained out of sight of the national media, suddenly turned up at the centrestage when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried a nationwide raid in May against IAS officer and state mining secretary Pooja Singhal in the MNREGA scam case and arrested her.
It took the ED almost a decade to collect evidence against Pooja Singhal that how she committed a scam worth Rs 18.06 crore in MNREGA projects in Khunti district when she was posted as DC from February 2009 till July 2010.
The lady IAS officer was dubbed as the Panch Purusha (among five powerful bureaucrats of Jharkhand) and the ED by arresting her put the proverbial cat among the pigeons.
Last year, the ED resolutely either took up or expedited cases of corruption which ruffled feathers of bureaucrats, police officials, politicians, criminals and mafias. Like other opposition ruled states, the Hemant Soren led government withdrew consent to the CBI to investigate any case. However, the CBI registered a couple of cases referred by the Jharkhand High Court, and it remained banished out of Jharkhand. The ED quickly filled up the vacuum and became as good as the CBI and sometimes better than that.
Actions against illegal mining
Jharkhand is the hub of illegal mining. It is an old and endless story and the dimension and enormity of the crime kept growing. It is a cooperative crime executed by a cabal of politicians, police, officials and mafias. All had their share in it. Sometimes in the beginning of the last year, 2022, the ED lodged an ECIR related to the 2020 Barharwa toll tax case. A state minister Alamgir Alam and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s local representative Pankaj Mishra allegedly threatened and prevented a businessman Shambhu Nandan Kumar from participating in the toll plaza auction.
In no time the ED made this ECIR a launching pad to investigate the massive stone mining scam in Santhal Pargana. With this the ED took up investigation of more than 50 FIRs related to illegal stone mining. It turned out to be a massive scam worth over Rs. 1000 crore. The ED arrested Pankaj Mishra, powerbroker Prem Prakash and a criminal Bacchu Yadav. This case is proving Damocles’ sword hanging over the head of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The ED questioned him as well as his media advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu. The ED has also highlighted the role of Pooja Singhal in the scam besides indicated involvement of Kolkata based businessman Amit Agrawal.
MLA cash case
The last week of July 2022 was the most happening moment. The Bengal police suddenly turned as Pied Piper of Hamelin and got involved in the fast-moving political drama of Jharkhand. Three MLAs of Jharkhand Congress, namely Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kacchap and Naman Bixel Kongari were arrested in Howrah along with cash worth Rs 48 lakh on July 30th. They were alleged to have received cash from the BJP to topple the Hemant Soren government. A day after arrest Jharkhand Congress MLA Jaimangal Singh lodged a zero FIR against these MLAs and named BJP’s Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for controlling operation lotus. The ED took up this case and summoned Jaimangal Singh.
Cash for PIL case
A day after the three Jharkhand MLA were arrested, Jharkhand High court advocate Rajiv Kumar was also arrested by the Bengal police along with Rs 50 lakh cash. He was arrested on the complaint of businessman Amit Agrawal who with the help of Kolkata police had laid a trap for the arresting of Rajiv Kumar along with cash. Amit Agrawal claimed that Rajiv Kumar had demanded Rs 10 Crore cash to give him a safe passage in the shell company related PIL which he was arguing on behalf of the petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma.
The ED lodged an ECIR in this case and arrested Amit Agrawal. The ED in the chargesheet claimed that while Rajiv Kumar committed a crime for compromising the PIL for cash, Amit Agrawal is the number one accused. The ED stated that Amit Agrawal laid the trap with a larger conspiracy to defame judiciary and the central agencies.
Army land scam
Despite the manpower crunch the ED has been facing at its Ranchi zonal office, the ED has taken up a number of other cases including garb of the Indian Army land. Fake documents were used to sell 4.55 acres of land in Ranchi occupied by the Indian Army to the owner of Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Private Limited. The inquiry set-up by South Chotanagpur Divisional Commissioner, Nitin Madan Kulkarni exposed the scam that how a land owned by Jayant Karnad, but under occupation of Indian Army was sold out to Dilip Ghosh of Jagatbandhu Tea Estate. The ED raided premises of Amit Agrawal and Vishnu Agrawal. It is widely believed that this case will blow the lid upon mega real estate scams in Jharkhand particularly in Ranchi.
A cool year for the CBI
Rupa Tirkey (26), an ASI of Jharkhand Police posted at Mahila police station in Sahibganj district was found hanging at her official quarter on the morning of May 3 2021. The Police concluded it as a case of suicide and arrested the 2018 batch Sub Inspector Shiv Kanaujia on May 9, 2021 on the charge of abetment of suicide.
But the family alleged that she was murdered by Pankaj Mishra and his associate Dahu Yadav. The family filed a PIL for the CBI inquiry and the court of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi of Jharkhand High Court on September 1, 2021 ordered a CBI inquiry. The CBI filed a closure report and concluded her death as a case of suicide.
Rupesh Pandey lynching case
The CBI is currently investigating Rupesh Pandey following the order of the court of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi of Jharkhand High Court on September 6 last year. This order was passed by the single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi while hearing a criminal writ petition 110/22 filed by the mother of the deceased Urmila Devi.
Prima facie it appeared that Jharkhand police did not investigate the matter independently and under the influence of some powerful persons.
Minor Rupesh Pandey was lynched to death on February 2 this year at Dulmaha village under Barhi police station of Hazaribagh district where he had gone to attend the immersion procession of Goddess Saraswati.
NIA takes over investigation of Maoist attack on former Jharkhand BJP MLA Guruchanran Nayak
Last year the National Investigation Agency took over the investigation of the attack on former BJP MLA Guruchanran Nayak (53) by the CPI (Maoist) in West Singhbhum on January 4 this year where two of his bodyguards succumbed during the attack.
The NIA has taken over the case from the Jharkhand Police and lodged a fresh case. The FIR has been lodged against top Maoist leader Mishir Besra and other CPI (Maoist) leaders and cadres Raghu, Ashwin, Chandan, Mochhu, Sushant, Sagen, Kande Honhaga and Sonaram Honhaga. A couple of days back the NIA filed a chargesheet against some Maoists in this case.
Gurucharan Nayak was attacked during a sports event organized by the Gram Vikas Samiti at village Jhilarua under Goilkera police station where the sports event was organized on occasion foundation day of the Project Plus two School at village. During the incident one bodyguard was seriously injured and other two bodyguards Shankar Nayak and Thakur Hembram succumbed to their injuries, while fighting with the Maoists. Rebels also took away their fire weapons.
