Names of former Dhanbad deputy mayor Aklavya Singh, his younger brother Abhishek and cousin Harsh Singh has figured in an extortion case along with ShekharTiwari and two others for allegedly extorting money from a coal merchant.
Except Tiwari, remaining three accused happen to be relatives of Jharia MLA Poornima Neeraj Singh. The case has been filed against aforementioned persons by Mithelesh Singh with Saraidhela police station. Police registered case on Friday after going through CCTV footage in which it was found Shekhar Tiwari was pointing a gun at the coal merchant and had forced him to talk to cousins of MLA.
Mithelesh claims they demanded Rs 5 lakh as extortion in order to continue the coal business including transportation. Police said a case has been filed under relevant sections and investigation is on.
However, one of the named accused Harsh Singh claims that the call was made for returning the money of one Sanjeev Chouhan, a hard coke plant owner. “Family members of Chouhan had contacted me for mediation in this case,” he said. Harsh also termed Mithelesh as hardcore coal smuggler who used to smuggle coal during BJP rule. But since Congress MLA was elected coal smuggling has stopped in Jharia, added Harsh.