SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, May 9: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon summon Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam and question him about his role in the multi-crore tender scam.
His Private Secretary Sanjiv Lal and household help Jehangir Alam are already being grilled by the agency following the recovery of Rs 35.23 crore from their premises.
“Alam will be summoned soon,” said a source.
The agency today also summoned Sanjiv Lal’s wife Rita Lal to ascertain how she acquired a large number of immovable properties in her name.
The ED has already said that Sanjiv Lal collected commission on behalf of ‘some influential persons’ and played a pivotal role in managing the tenders and collection of commission from engineers. “The commission was distributed in a mechanised manner to higher-ups in the government,” the agency has said.
Sources said that the flat near Pahadi temple possessed by Jehangir Alam from where over Rs 32 crore was recovered was purchased in December 2023. It implied the huge sum recovered from there was generated in the last three months.
Notably, Alam, a former Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly, has been at the helm of the rural development department since 2019.
Case linked to Veerendra Kumar Ram
Notably, the latest case of money laundering is linked to the suspended chief engineer Veerendra Kumar Ram, who was arrested on February 23 last year.
Ram, posted in the Water resource department, was on deputation, as chief engineer to Rural Works Department and Rural Development Department (Special Division), Government of Jharkhand.
‘Ram used to collect commissions’
“Veerendra Kumar Ram used to collect commissions in terms of allocation of tender and execution of work and the said commission / fixed share of 1.5% was distributed among his seniors and politicians,” the ED said.
Alam under ED scanner since 2020
Incidentally, Alamgir Alam, four-time Congress MLA from Pakur, has been under the ED scanner since 2020 after one Shambhu Nandan named him in an FIR accusing him and Pankaj Mishra, the political aide of former CM Hemant Soren, of using force to prevent him from participating in the tender for the management of the Barharwa toll plaza.
However, the police gave him within 24 hours of filing the case.
The ED picked up this case to probe Pankaj Mishra’s role in an illegal mining scam.
Later, the Jharkhand High Court also rapped the Sahebganj district police for not filing a charge sheet against them. Sambhu Nandan had reached the High Court seeking a CBI probe into the case.
Alam also under scanner for job scam in Assembly
Alamgir Alam, Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly from October 20 2006 to December 26 2009, has also been under the scanner along with other former speakers-Inder Singh Namdhari and Shashank Shekhar Bhokta, for making the “illegal” appointment of over 500 employees between 2005 to 2007.
A PIL, filed by Shiv Shankar Sharma, is still under the consideration of the Jharkhand High Court.
According to sources, the process of all these appointments was initiated during the tenure of Inder Singh Namdhari and completed when Alamgir Alam was the speaker. Alam’s successor Shashank Shekhar Bhokta gave out-of-turn promotions to several such employees.
The case
During the tenure of Alamgir Alam, a CD involving the issue of money transactions by one Md Shamim had come to the fore.
Ironically, Md Shamim, Under Secretary in the Jharkhand assembly, and his two sons were arrested by Ranchi Police in the JSSC paper leak case recently.
The then Governor Syed Sibte Razi had ordered an inquiry into the assembly job scam. Retired Justice Vikramaditya Prasad, investigated the case and submitted the report to the then Governor Droupadi Murmu (currently the President).
The report accuses Namdhari, Alam, and several officials of irregularities, nepotism and favouritism in appointments in the assembly during their tenures.
Murmu sent the inquiry report to the Legislative Assembly for action. She had also recommended a CBI probe into the CD episode, but no action has been taken yet.
