Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday interrogated Abhishek Prasad Srivastava alias Pintu in connection with illegal mining and Vinod Singh. During this, Pintu accepted the fact of taking mining lease in Sahibganj and getting help at the administrative level. Also accepted his relations with Vinod Singh. Let us tell you that during the investigation of illegal mining, ED had also raided the places of Pintu and Vinod Singh in January this year.
During the interrogation on Monday, ED asked Pintu questions related to the investments made through Vinod Singh. At the same time, inquiries were also made regarding the details obtained from the WhatsApp chat of Vinod Singh’s mobile phone. Pintu admitted his relationship with Vinod Singh, but denied the allegations regarding investments made through him and Vinod Singh’s relationship with the then CM Hemant Soren. On the basis of complaints received about Vinod, Pintu and Hemant Soren, ED had also included Vinod Singh in the scope of the raid.
In the complaints received by ED, Pintu and Hemant Soren were accused of investing through Vinod Singh’s company. ED had conducted raids in this regard after preliminary investigation. During interrogation in connection with illegal mining, Pintu admitted to taking mining lease in Sahibganj. He admitted that he had received help at the administrative level in the lease matter. During interrogation, he also admitted his relations with Pankaj Mishra, identified as the kingpin in the illegal mining case.
DSP Pramod Mishra will be interrogated today
ED has sent summons to DSP Pramod Mishra and directed him to appear at the regional office in Ranchi on March 19. He will be interrogated in connection with illegal mining. During his posting in Sahibganj, he supervised the FIR registered regarding Barharwa toll dispute within 24 hours and declared Pankaj Mishra and Alamgir Alam innocent. The investigating officer of the FIR registered regarding the toll dispute has admitted before the ED during interrogation that the investigation was not conducted in a fair manner. Pramod Mishra has been interrogated before also. He is also accused of meeting Pankaj Mishra wrongly during the period of judicial custody.
CBI team again reaches Sahibganj to investigate illegal mining case
The CBI team investigating the illegal mining and money laundering case worth Rs 1000 crore reached Sahibganj again after 108 days. CBI officials had reached Sahibganj on Sunday evening itself. This is the fifth visit of CBI for investigation in the case registered under ST-SC Act by Lemon Pahad head Vijay Hansda, who was an ED witness. On Monday morning, the CBI team along with DMO Krishna Kisku headed towards Simaria Mauza of Mandro area. The team stayed here for more than two hours. After this, measurement of a stone mine located in Simaria Mauza was done. Amin was called for this. During the measurement, due to the presence of water in the mine, a diver was called to measure its depth. After measuring the length and width of the mine, the depth of the pond was measured with the help of a diver. According to sources, the mine which was measured was completely illegal.