NEW DELHI: The Jharkhand High Court has rejected a bail plea by an alleged middleman arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the Jharkhand illegal stone mining case, which came across like a "crime thriller".
A bench of Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary on January 10 declined any relief to the accused Prem Prakash, who claimed he had no links to the case, in which Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been questioned and his political aide Pankaj Mishra, and others.
The court noted the case was at its nascent stage and it would not in interest of justice to release the petitioner.
In July, 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Mishra and his alleged associates covering 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhait, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa in Jharkhand.
Prakash was arrested by the ED on August 18, 2022. He has been under judicial custody since August 25, 2022.
The ED claimed Prakash was an associate of Mishra and the two were allegedly handling huge cash funds generated through illegal stone mining in the state.
"After having considered the rival submissions advanced on behalf of both the sides, this court is of the view that the argument advanced on behalf of the ED is persuasive enough to reject the petition for bail.
"Contrary to the submission by the learned counsel on behalf of the petitioner, the offence of money laundering is an independent offence and it is not necessary that the accused charged with the offence of money laundering are the same who are made accused in predicate offence," the order said.
The court said that the story of the ED "reminds one of a crime thriller, where the state withers and the crime cartels with political connection, clash for natural resources of the state".
"At the centre of this human rapacity is Rajmahal Hills which runs through the districts of Sahibganj, Pakur and extending up to Dumka, and is famed for the black stone chips used as construction material," it said.
The court said Prakash's role in this case has been recorded in the statement of a person called Ravi Kumar Kejriwal, a former treasurer of Soren's party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and an employee of Prakash, Anil Jha. The petitioner failed to "satisfactorily" answer the questions posed to him by the ED on huge amounts of cash received in bank accounts linked to him, it said.
The court said Prakash's role in this case has been recorded in the statement of a person called Ravi Kumar Kejriwal, a former treasurer of Soren's party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and an employee of Prakash, Anil Jha. The petitioner failed to "satisfactorily" answer the questions posed to him by the ED on huge amounts of cash received in bank accounts linked to him, it said.
The court also recorded, "Huge cash transactions have been shown in the account of the company in the name of this petitioner, regarding which no plausible explanation has been offered. The investigation revealed that the cash receipts amounting to Rs 5,65,17,000 in Punjab National Bank Account No 21881132000179 of M/s Herbal Green Solutions Pvt Ltd, and subsequent payments worth Rs 5,31,18,000 to one company M/s Aurora Studio Pvt. Ltd, a company of Amit Agarwal, required to be satisfactorily answered by the petitioner, but he failed to do so. Quite interestingly, even two AK 47 rifles were seized from his house which are said to be of the security guards not posted in his place."
