Congress MLA appears before ED for 2nd day in money laundering case

THE 36-YEAR-OLD MLA HAD BEEN INITIALLY ASKED TO DEPOSE BEFORE THE ED ON APRIL 4

RANCHI: Jharkhand Congress MLA Amba Prasad appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the second consecutive day on Tuesday for questioning in an alleged money laundering case.

Prasad entered the ED office here at 3.10 pm. “I was asked to appear on Tuesday. So, I am here. An investigation is on and I am cooperating with the agency,” she told reporters before entering the ED office.

Prasad was grilled by ED officials on Monday for more than six hours.

Responding to a question about whether any land-related issue was raised by the central agency during the interrogation on April 8, Prasad said, “This question is just being asked by the media only. I don’t know how the land grabbing issue came. We did not have any interest in land,” she said.

After the interrogation a day before, she had told media persons that most of the questions were related to the electronic devices which were seized from her possession.

The 36-year-old MLA had been initially asked to depose before the ED on April 4 to record her statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said.

But, the legislator did not turn up, citing medical issues.

Prasad’s father and former minister Yogendra Sao faced ED questioning for two consecutive days on April 3 and 4 in an investigation into alleged extortion and land-grabbing cases.

The premises of Prasad, Sao and others were raided by the central agency in March in connection with its probe into alleged extortion, collection of levies, illegal sand mining and land grabbing.