The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted multiple raids at the premises of secretary level officer, brother of minister and other persons in connection with multi-crore scam in the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department. Jal Jeevan Mission is a scheme of the central government.
Premises linked to senior IAS officer Manish Ranjan, Harendra Singh, a personal staffer of drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Thakur's brother Vinay Thakur, some government officials, contractors and businessmen were searched by the agency, the sources said.
Ranjan was questioned by the ED earlier in a separate money laundering case, in which it arrested former minister Alamgir Alam.
According to ED sources, the agency is conducting these raids as part of an investigation into irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Hazaribagh had also raised the issue of irregularities in the Centrally funded scheme Jal Jeevan Mission. In the State capital, the raids were conducted at Morhabadi area, Indrapuri area of Ratu Road, Harmu and other places also raids were conducted at Chaibasa and Garhwa.
Mithlesh Thakur, a contractor-turned-politician, holds significant influence in the current administration. Manish Ranjan, who was previously under the ED's scrutiny in connection with a rural development scam, served as secretary in the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department for a considerable period.
This scam in the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department is reported to be of substantial scale, with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) already filed alleging a scam of over Rs 4,000 crore.
The money laundering case stems from a December, 2023 FIR lodged by the Jharkhand Police against one Santosh Kumar, a former cashier-cum-upper divisional clerk (UDC), posted at the office of Drinking Water and Sanitation Suvarnarekha Division, Ranchi along with unknown others. The police FIR alleged that Santosh Kumar, in connivance of other government officials, "dishonestly" made fake payee ID of an entity and used the account details of his own and his company Rockdril Constructions (OPC) Private Limited to fraudulently withdraw funds of Rs 2,71,62,833 causing wrongful loss to the state government.
“It is found that a total of Rs 23 crore has been credited into the accounts of Santosh Kumar and his company from the Treasury Office, Ranchi. This amount was subsequently withdrawn by Santosh Kumar and distributed among the other officials," the FIR stated.
Meanwhile, Minister Thakur charged that the raids were "politically motivated" as he refused to "buckle under pressure" of the saffron brigade to join the BJP. Alleging that the ED was working on the directions of the central government, he demanded that the agency should come out with the list of recoveries it made from his residence, besides others associated with him.
