More trouble is in store for Jharkhand High Court lawyer popularly known as ‘PIL expert’, Rajiv Kumar as Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to investigate the complaint of Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal against the lawyer.
In this case, the Kolkata police have summoned the Deputy Director of Odisha Zonal office of the ED, Subodh Kumar, and asked him to record his statement. Subodh Kumar was earlier posted as deputy director at Ranchi zonal office of the agency. The Kolkata police summoned him on the basis of some of his alleged WhatsApp conversations with Rajiv Kumar.
Lawyer Rajiv Kumar was arrested by Kolkata police on July 31 and allegedly recovered Rs 50 lakh cash from his possession and charged him for extorting money from Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal to give him relief in a PIL 4290/21 pending before the Jharkhand High Court.
The allegation against Rajiv Kumar is that he along with petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma files PILs in order to extort money from businessmen and companies.
Sources in ED said that ECIR of this case may be registered at Ranchi zonal office of the ED. The Police said that he was trapped along with the cash which he had extorted from Amit Agrawal in the name of safeguarding him in a PIL 4290/21 against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma claimed that the Chief Minister, his family members and associates were indulged in corruption and they laundered their unaccounted money through various shell companies. Amit Agrawal is not the respondent of this PIL but his company Aurora Studio Pvt. Ltd was named in the PIL as a suspected shell company. The petitioner claimed that Amit Agrawal is closely associated with the Chief Minister. However, as a respondent Hemant Soren vehemently denied charges against him. Rajiv Kumar is the advocate of the petitioner.
In a complaint lodged before the Weat Bengal police, Amit Agrawal said that in May he came to know through media and other sources that allegations have been made against his companies being involved in money laundering. He alleged Rajiv Kumar and Shiv Shankar Sharma are hand in gloves in filing such PILs against different businessmen and their companies in lieu of huge amounts of money with assurance to settle the issue by managing Judges, court officers and other government agencies.
Amit Agrawal claimed that Rajiv Kumar came to Kolkata on 13th July and met him on this issue. Agrawal claimed that during their prolonged conversation with Rajiv Kumar he had an argument with him for involving him and his companies in the PIL with such frivolous allegations.