Breaking News: ED recovers Rs 8 lakh, 14 rounds of 9 mm cartridges from Sahibganj DC’s premises in Jharkhand 

SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA

Ranchi, Jan. 3: In a major crackdown, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today recovered Rs 8 lakh and 14 rounds of cartridges of 9 mm from the premises of Sahibganj DC Ramniwas Yadav.

According to ED sources, Yadav is likely to be booked under the Arms Act following the recovery of cartridges.

These recoveries were made after the ED raided multiple locations in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Kolkata in today’s illegal mining money laundering case.

Also read: Ramniwas Yadav is 3rd IAS officer in Jharkhand to face ED heat

The persons whose premises were searched included Abhishek Prasad Pintu, Press Advisor to CM Hemant Soren, and Sahibganj DC Ram Niwas Yadav (IAS). Yadav’s residence in Rajasthan is also being raided.

Others whose premises were also being raided are Rajendra Dubey, DSP, Hazaribag, architect Vinod Kumar, Khodaniya brothers (Sahibganj), former MLA Pappu Yadav (Deoghar), Abhay Saraogi (Kolkata), and sepoy Awdhesh Kumar.

Ramniwas Yadav

Yadav had been under the scanner of the ED for his proximity with Pankaj Mishra, Hemant Soren’s MLA representative. His role in probing the case where a ship carrying trucks carrying stone chips met with an accident in the Ganga River in Sahibganj was also under scanner. He is also facing a probe for his failure to stop illegal mining and transportation in Sahibganj.

Grid Consultant

Vinod Kumar is the Grid Consultant Architect company proprietor and is close to the CM and his media advisor. The ED has sealed his office located in Roshpa Tower, Ranchi. 

Notably, the ED had sent a letter about him to the Jharkhand DGP on August 8 last year, saying he had acquired considerable properties in his name and the name of his family members. The agency sought the DGP to send the complaint/FIR against Vinod Kumar.

Katoria ex-MLA

Pappu Yadav is an ex-MLA from Katoria in Bihar and is close to CM’s MLA Representative Pankaj Mishra, who is cooling his heels in the Birsa Munda jail. According to sources, Pappu Yadav, alias Raj Kishore Prasad, is also named in an FIR online by Prakash Chandra Yadav at Borio police station in Sahibganj on December 31. 

DSP Rajendra Dubey’s residence in Hazaribag

The ED had interrogated DSP Rajendra Dubey for his telephonic conversations with Pankaj Mishra from judicial custody.

He is among the two DSPs—the second one is the then Barharwa DSP Pramod Kumar Mishra—whom the ED summoned concerning the illegal mining case. 

According to sources, Sepoy Awdhesh Kumar is an aide of jailed power broker Prem Prakash.