Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's aide searched by ED in 'illegal' mining case'

Searches are being carried out at 12 locations including Abhishek Prasad's residence and the residence of Sahebganj Deputy Commissioner.

Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided the premises of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's press advisor, the officials of Sahibganj district and a former MLA as part of a money laundering probe into alleged illegal mining in the state, official sources said.

About a dozen locations in the state, including in state capital Ranchi and a premise in Rajasthan, are being raided by the central agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The premises of press advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu, the collector of Sahibganj district, ex-MLA Pappu Yadav, an architect, some jail department officials and a police constable are being searched by the agency officials, sources said.

An armed escort of central security forces went along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.

Prasad has been questioned by the ED in this case earlier.

Sources said the action was undertaken on the receipt of fresh inputs in the case.

The raids come on a day when the legislators of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led coalition in the state are meeting here to discuss the current political scenario in the backdrop of the ED's summons to the chief minister in an alleged land grab case.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay said that all efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the ED raids, are aimed at pulling down the Soren government.

He said that he has been in politics for the last almost four decades but has never seen such blatant misuse of the government agencies.

The agency, since 2022, has been probing a trail of Rs 100 crore of "proceeds of crime" generated from illegal mining operations in the state.

The money laundering probe began after the ED raided Pankaj Mishra, one of the political aides of Soren, and his alleged associates in July 2022 and covered 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhet, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa in Jharkhand to investigate alleged irregularities in the operation of toll plaza tenders and instances of illegal mining in the state.

The evidence collected during the course of the investigation, including the statements of various persons, digital evidence and documents, revealed that the funds seized from the accused was derived from illegal mining being rampantly done in the Sahibganj area, including the forest area, the ED had said.