Jharkhand High Court on Saturday rejected the bail petition of Pankaj Mishra who is the MLA representative of the state's former Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Mishra was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in July 2022 for his alleged involvement in Rs 1000-crore illegal mining in the Santhal Parganas.
Mishra, who is Soren's close aide has been in the eye of the storm for influencing mining tenders and other contracts after which ED seized his assets last year. During the investigation, ED raided Mishra and his accomplice's properties in Sahengunj, Rajmahal, Barharwa, and Barhet and recovered Rs. 5.34 in cash and 11.88 crore from 37 bank accounts.
Mishra had filed a bail petition in the illegal mining case last year which was rejected by the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Ranchi in November 2023. The bail was rejected on the grounds that the charges against him were severe and that Mishra could tamper with the investigation if granted bail.
ED had also filed a prosecution charge against electricity trader Prem Prakash, and local criminal Sahibganj Bacchu Yadav along with Pankaj Mishra. After conducting thorough searches, the central agency filed the case against Mishra in March 2023 under the PMLA saying that he "illegally seized or amassed large assets in his favor."
According to ED's chargesheet, Pankaj Mishra was actively engaged in unlawful mining activities and siphoning off millions of rupees under the supervision of Hemant Soren, despite his close ties with the former chief minister.
Pankaj Mishra had filed a complaint in PMLA court against ED's assistant director alleging that he had concealed facts of the Barharwa tender case in the complaint it filed in the court. As per the FIR filed by a complainant named Sambu Nandan Kumar, Mishra reportedly threatened Kumar not to participate in the bidding. When the complainant refused, he was allegedly attacked by a mob at Mishra's behest.
According to the ED, the main objective was to obtain control over all six toll plazas managed by the Barharwa Nagar Panchayat along the route linking the mining sites.
The hearing on the bail plea of former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan in the case of illegal purchase and sale of 4.55 acres of land occupied by the Army will now be held on February 16. The case was partially debated in the court of High Court Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad. ED has registered ECIR 1/2023 against them. In this, charge sheet has been filed in the court against 10 accused including Chhavi Ranjan, Amit Kumar Aggarwal. ED's response to Chhavi Ranjan's bail plea has been given in the High Court. Let us tell you that in this case, ED had raided 22 locations of 18 people including former Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan and revenue employee of Badgai on April 13. During this period, ED had received a large number of fake land deeds, seals and other documents. After which on April 14, ED arrested seven accused. He was accused of tampering with land documents, later former Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan was arrested on May 4, 2023 on the basis of his involvement in this case. Case number 141/2022 has been registered against Chhavi Ranjan in Bariatu police station regarding land purchase and sale case.
Box
Sahibganj DC MP Dheeraj Sahu and Vinod Singh interrogated
Sahibganj DC Ramniwas Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu and Vinod Singh, considered close to Hemant Soren, were interrogated at the ED office on Saturday. Former CM's press advisor Abhishek Prasad Pintu has also reached the ED office. Vinod Singh was interrogated again today regarding WhatsApp chat. At the same time, the Congress MP was interrogated regarding the Rs 36 lakh cash and BMW car recovered from the residence of former Chief Minister Hemat Soren in Delhi. During the ED raid, at Sahibganj Dc residence illegal bullets along with cash were recovered. After which ED officials had issued summons and called for questioning, but despite the summons being issued, Sahibganj DC Ramniwas Yadav was not coming.