India News | Money Laundering Case: Court Sends J'khand CM's Aide to ED Custody for Six Days

Ranchi, Jul 20 (PTI) A special PMLA court here on Wednesday sent Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, to six-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state.

The federal probe agency had arrested Mishra after a long session of questioning at its regional office here on Tuesday.

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The ED produced Mishra before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of Judge Prabhat Kumar Sharma and sought his 14 days' custody stating his remand was required to probe the "entire trail of proceeds of crime...and identify the beneficiaries of such money generated through illegal acts."

Mishra's lawyer opposed the ED's request stating that his client was "ready to co-operate with the agency".

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The defence lawyer also sought that Mishra be provided required health care during his remand period and allowed to meet his counsel.

The court ordered six days ED remand for Mishra calling it "necessary and justified for fair and complete investigation of the matter" and that there were "sufficient reasons for remanding the accused to the custody of the ED".

The Judge also allowed medication for ailments being suffered by Mishra and access to his counsel once in a day.

The money laundering probe against Mishra and his alleged associates was launched on July 8 after the federal probe agency raided at least 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhet, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa in Jharkhand in a case linked to alleged irregularities in the operation of toll plaza tenders and instances of illegal mining in the state.

The searches were launched after the ED filed a PMLA case in March against Mishra and others alleging he "illegally grabbed/amassed huge assets in his favour."

After the raids, the ED had frozen deposits of Rs 11.88 crore lying in 37 bank accounts belonging to Mishra and Dahoo Yadav, a person linked to him. Apart from this, "unaccounted" cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore was also seized by the agency, which claimed that the money was linked to "illegal mining" in Jharkhand.

Five stone crushers that were being "illegally" operated and an equal number of "illegal firearm cartridges" were also seized by the ED.

"The evidence collected during the course of the investigation, including the statements of various persons, digital evidence and documents, revealed that the seized cash/bank balance is derived from illegal mining being rampantly done in the Sahibganj area, including the forest area," the ED had said.

The agency said it was probing a trail of Rs 100 crore of "proceeds of crime" generated from illegal mining operations in the state.

It had recently stated that cash amounting to more than Rs 36 crore, linked to "illegal mining" in Jharkhand, was seized by its teams over the last more than two months as part of two separate money-laundering investigations.

The second instance where cash linked to alleged illegal mining in the state was unearthed pertains to the ED action against suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Singhal in May.

Apart from the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant linked to the couple and others were raided by the ED as part of a money laundering probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in the MGNREGA scheme.

Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.

Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, were also arrested by the agency and cash amounting to Rs 19.76 crore was seized by it.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)