3.66 cr added to money laundering case against Ekka

AFTER UNEARTHING THE MONEY, THE ED CLUBBED IT WITH THE ONGOING

13.88-CR CASE BEING TAKEN UP AGAINST THE FORMER MINISTER

RANCHI: The enforcement directorate (ED) on Monday unearthed ` 3.66 crore worth of illegal transactions by former Jharkhand minister Enos Ekka and clubbed the amount with the ongoing ` 13.88-crore money laundering case against him in a special court.

Ekka, who is a legislator from Kolebira assembly constituency of Jharkhand and had held a cabinet berth during the chief ministership of Madhu Koda, is currently languishing in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in a para teacher murder case.

Submitting a supplementary charge sheet in a Ranchi court , the enforcement directorate claimed that Ekka had ‘illegally’ acquired a farm house in Hauz Khas, a flat in Vasant Vihar in Delhi, a property in Sushant Lok area of Gurgaon and a flat in Ranchi.

Special public prosecutor SR Das said some documents and names of the new witnesses had been added to the supplementary charge sheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Now Ekka has ` 17.54 crore against him in the money laundering case. Earlier, the CBI had filed a disproportionate assets case involving ` 17 crore which he had allegedly amassed during his ministerial stint in 2005-09.

Both the agencies have made Ekka’s wife, Menon Ekka, as an accused in these cases. It was alleged that that Ekka had set up a firm named Ekka Construction Private Limited with his wife as its director.

In yet another case, the ED on Monday took physical possession of a 10-acre land worth R91.87 lakh owned by a sister of former health minister and Bhawnathpur legislator Bhanu Pratap Shahi. The land is situated at Hotwarsyi near Hatia Dam in Ranchi.

Sources in the ED informed that the said land was registered in the name of Santoshi Devi and late Ravindra Pratap Singh, close relatives of Shahi. It was alleged that the land was a tainted immovable property purchased by Shahi out of the laundered money.

The ED has booked Shahi for commissioning offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).