8 days before the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections, the CBI carried out a major operation at around 11 am on Tuesday. They are raiding 16 locations in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar in an illegal mining case worth Rs 1200 crore.
In which raids are being conducted in 3 districts of Jharkhand, Sahibganj, Pakur, Rajmahal. Apart from this, the team is also investigating in Kolkata and Patna. According to ANI, the CBI has seized Rs 60 lakh in cash, one kg of gold and 1.25 kg of silver from different places during the raid.
The investigation team also found gold biscuits and a chain.
According to sources, six lakh rupees in cash and 1.25 kg of silver have been recovered from Ranjan Verma's house in Mirzachoki. The agency has seized mining-related documents, passbook and revolver papers from Udhwa businessman Mehtab Alam.
All the people whose place the agency raided are said to be close to Pankaj Mishra. Mishra has been the MLA representative of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
In Sahibganj, six people are being raided: big industrialist Mahtab Alam of Rajmahal Udha, Ranjan Verma of Mirzachoki, Sanjay Jaiswal, Subroto Pal of Barharwa, stone dealer Tinkal Bhagat, Awadh Kishore Singh alias Patru Singh, Bhagavan Bhagat of Barharwa and Krishna Shah.
During the raid, the CBI found bundles of notes.
1200 crore scam exposed in investigation based on minor complaint In Sahibganj Rs. The illegal mining case of more than 1200 crores started with a simple complaint. Indeed, illegal mining was going on at Sahibganj's Lemon Hill. Because of which cracks started appearing in the houses of the villagers here. Tired of this, the villagers reached there on May 2, 2022 to stop the illegal mining, but were chased away by the disciples of the people involved in the mining.
Eventually, villager Vijay Hansda registered a case against CM MLA representative Pankaj Mishra, his aides Vishnu Yadav, Pavitra Yadav, Rajesh Yadav, Bachchu Yadav, Sanjay Yadav and Subhash Yadav at the STSC police station in Sahibganj.
Based on this FIR, the ED conducted raids on 8 July 2022 at around 20 places in Sahibganj. One of these names was Pankaj Mishra, the representative of Behat MLA CM Hemant Soren. In these raids, the ED has found many important clues from the houses of several stone traders.
What is the charge against Pankaj Mishra? Pankaj Mishra has many kinds of allegations. On them in Sahibganj Rs. Apart from the illegal mining of more than 1200 crores, it is also alleged to have illegally earned it and managed the tenders. The ED summoned him for questioning in illegal mining and illegal earnings cases, after which he was arrested. In both these cases, the ED has framed charges in the charge court. Jharkhand High Court granted bail to Pankaj Mishra accused of illegal mining on October 21. He was arrested by ED on 19 July 2022 after 10 hours of continuous interrogation.
During the raid, the team found a large quantity of bullets
The CBI team reached Sahebganj for the raid.
Know what the ED said in the chargesheet… The ED has filed a chargesheet in a special court in Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, Bachchu Yadav and Prem Prakash, close to CM Hemant Soren, in money laundering cases related to illegal mining and extortion in Jharkhand and Bihar. In which the ED said that during the investigation, search operations were conducted at 47 places across the country on different dates. In which Rs. 5.34 crore in cash, Rs. 13.32 crore bank money, one boat, 5 stone crushers, two trucks, two AK-47s, assault rifles and other incriminating documents were seized.
Investigation revealed that Mishra, being the chief minister's representative, controlled illegal mining operations in and around Sahebganj through his associates as well as cross-border boat services.
“He controls the mining of stone chips and stones as well as the operation of crushers installed at several mining sites in Sahibganj. Through ill-gotten gains, Mishra has amassed assets worth Rs 42 crore,” the ED official said.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
