NEW DELHI: Trouble continues to mount for Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, already busy battling a tough office-of-profit case, with the ED on Friday seizing Rs 12 crore cash from the bank accounts of his close aides Pankaj Mishra and Dahoo Yadav, taking the total cash seizures in the case to Rs 37 crore. Mishra, in particular, is supposed to be close to Soren.
“A trail of further Rs 100 crore of proceeds of crime generated from illegal mining has also been unearthed and being worked upon,” the agency said, and claimed it has seized several digital and other evidence showing the “proceeds of crime”.
Since May, the ED has seized around Rs 37 crore in cash from several people allegedly close to Soren, including Rs 20 crore seized during raids on the premises of his mining secretary and IAS officer Pooja Singhal and a chartered accountant. Both are in judicial custody at present. On July 8, the ED raided 19 locations and seized Rs 5.34 crore in unaccounted cash. The agency said it has seized incriminating documents exposing the “illegal mining empire” .
The Jharkhand CM is facing disqualification as an MLA in an ‘office-of-profit’ case where he, as the minister of charge of department of mines, had allegedly allocated a mining lease to himself.
The Jharkhand government has acknowledged before the HC that the department of mines gave a lease to Soren, but said the “mistake” has since been rectified. The Election Commission is hearing the matter and likely to announce its order very soon.
