CRPF personnel stand outside the residence of Manish Ranjan, close aide of Jharkhand Minister Mithilesh Thakur, as the ED conducts raids in the connection with the alleged rural development scam, in Ranchi, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday conducted searches against a senior IAS officer, persons linked to a cabinet minister and some others as part of a multi-crore money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the water and sanitation department of poll-bound Jharkhand, official sources said.
The sources had earlier said that the raids were linked to the Jal Jeevan Mission, a scheme of the central government.
They said alleged illegal commission payments at the rate of 10 per cent was prevalent in the works awarded by the water and sanitation department and these kickbacks were shared among politicians in power, bureaucrats and department officials.
A total of 23 premises in state capital Ranchi and Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district were searched by the officials of the federal agency.
The ED team was provided security cover by the CRPF, the sources said.
Premises linked to secretary rank IAS officer Manish Ranjan, Harendra Singh, a personal staffer of drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Thakur's brother Vinay Thakur, some government officials, contractors and businessmen were searched by the agency, the sources said.
Ranjan is the secretary of the land, road and building department, and has been questioned by the ED earlier in a separate money laundering case in which it arrested former minister Alamgir Alam.
Reacting to the development, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said "these are not unexpected" and will "continue as assembly elections are approaching”.
He said opposition BJP's active members have been visiting Jharkhand, apparently referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Sarma and Chouhan are incharge and co-incharge for the assembly elections in the state, and have been attacking Soren over "corruption", "infiltration" and "declining" law and order.
Meanwhile, Thakur charged that the raids are "politically motivated" as he refused to "buckle under pressure" of the saffron brigade to join the BJP.
Alleging that the ED was working on the directions of the central government, he demanded that the agency should come out with the list of recoveries it made from his residence, besides others associated with him.
"People have every right to know how much funds, illegal documents, gold, diamonds and other jewels were recovered from premises linked to me," Thakur said.
The money laundering case stems from a December, 2023 FIR lodged by the Jharkhand Police against one Santosh Kumar, a former cashier-cum-upper divisional clerk (UDC), posted at the office of Drinking Water and Sanitation Suvarnarekha Division, Ranchi along with unknown others.
The police FIR alleged that Santosh Kumar, in connivance of other government officials, "dishonestly" made fake payee ID of an entity and used the account details of his own and his company Rockdril Constructions (OPC) Private Limited to fraudulently withdraw funds of Rs 2,71,62,833 causing wrongful loss to the state government.
"It is found that a total of Rs 23 crore has been credited into the accounts of Santosh Kumar and his company from Treasury Office, Ranchi. This amount was subsequently withdrawn by Santosh Kumar and distributed among the other officials," the FIR stated.
Officials said apart from the stated modus operandi of "bogus" billing and subsequent payment by the department, there was also "systemic" corruption in the department for collection and distribution of commission against the allotment of tenders to contractors.
It is gathered that around 10 per cent of total tender value is fixed as commission, and the same was being distributed among the political leadership, bureaucrats and other officers of the said department, as per the ED.
The minister, however, asserted that he will prefer to be hanged to death or spend his life in jail, but will not join the BJP.
He also attacked the Centre for "unleashing central agencies" just before the assembly elections to harass leaders.
Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly are expected to be announced soon, with the term of the present Vidhan Sabha coming to an end on January 5.
Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta also dubbed the ED searches politically influenced.