ED raid on Jharkhand CM’s aide over illegal mining 

Ranchi, January 3: Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths are conducting searches at over 10 locations in Jharkhand and Rajasthan in connection with an illegal mining and money laundering case, sources said on Wednesday.

According to sources, the central probe agency has carried out searches at the residences of Abhishek Prasad, press advisor to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Sahibganj deputy commissioner Ramniwas Yadav and Rajendra Dubey, DSP Hazaribagh.

Sleuths of the investigating agency searched the residences of Sahibganj deputy commissioner in Jharkhand and Rajasthan, sources added and informed that cash of Rs 8 lakh and some cartridges and a pistol were recovered from  his residences.

The premises of ex-MLA Pappu Yadav, some jail department officials and a police constable are being searched, the sources said. Sahib Ganj district collector Ram Nivas’s premises including his residence in Rajasthan is also being searched. The agency, since 2022, has been probing a trail of Rs 100 crore of “proceeds of crime” generated from illegal mining operations in the state.

On December 30 last year, the ED issued Soren a “last opportunity” to provide a statement regarding an alleged land scam. Soren deemed the summons ‘illegal’. It was the 7th summons issued to Soren by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 asking him to record his statement.