V NARADA
Ranchi, Feb. 6: Sahibganj DC Ramniwas Yadav today told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that he had not hushed up any facts related to the accident of a cargo ship in the river Ganga in March last year which was illegally carrying stone chips to Bihar.
He passed the buck on Sahibganj SP Anuranjan Kispotta, district mining officer Bibhuti Kumar and other officials if the facts of this accident were suppressed and no action was taken against fugitive Dahu Yadav who was operating that ferry service.
Yadav was called for questioning by the ED in the Rs 1000 crore illegal stone mining and transportation scam. He claimed that he relied upon the report sent to him by his subordinate district officials, including district mining officer Bibhuti Kumar and others. The report denied allegations that the said cargo ship against the law operated in the night time besides it was operating from an unauthorized ferry ghat.
During questioning he said he did not carry out any independent investigation and relied upon the report submitted to him by the officials. He submitted the same report to the Santhal Pargana commissioner Chandra Mohan Kashyap.
The ED alleged that he gave Pankaj Mishra access to that confidential inquiry report of the cargo ship accident. The DC denied the allegation and said that he never shared any report with Pankaj Mishra and did not know how Pankaj Mishra accessed that report.
Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. The ED has booked and arrested him in the mining scam.
The ED asked him to explain as to why no action was taken against Dahu Yadav who ran the ferry service and was solely responsible for this mishap as well as illegal transportation of stone chips. On this, the DC said that for the last six months he has been asking SP Anuranjan Kispotta to lodge an FIR against Dahu Yadav.
“What else can I do if the SP is not taking any action,” Yadav told the ED. The agency asked him about his regular and frequent telephonic conversations with Pankaj Mishra. Yadav avoided questions related to Pankaj Mishra and said that he was neither associated with Pankaj Mishra nor assisted him in committing the crime.
