J’khand tells anti-graft body to probe 5 BJP leaders
RANCHI: The Jharkhand government has directed the state anticorruption bureau (ACB) to carry out a probe into the alleged disproportionate assets of five former ministers in the previous Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party government -- a move that comes even as the Election Commission of India is looking into an office-of-profit case against chief minister Hemant Soren.
In a statement issued late on Tuesday, Soren’s government said it ordered the probe on the basis of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Jharkhand high court in 2020 by Pankaj Yadav, alleging that the five former ministers had assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The state government has ordered an ACB investigation into the matter after a PIL was filed in the High Court in 202, the government added in the statement.
The five former ministers being investigated are Neera Yadav, Randhir Kumar Singh, Neelkanth Singh Munda, Amar Kumar Bauri and Luis Marandi.
The move comes close on the heels of the state government in May ordering a probe by a judicial commission into alleged irregularities in the construction of the state assembly building inaugurated nearly three years ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It also comes at a time when Soren is facing probe by the Election Commission of India over a complaint by the BJP that a mining lease on government land was granted to the chief minister, who also holds the mining portfolio, last year. The charge, if true, would amount to holding an “office of profit” and hence invite Soren’s disqualification from the legislative assembly under the Representation of People’s Act. Soren has dismissed the allegation.
Reacting to the state government’s order for a probe against former BJP ministers, Munda said he has declared all his assets in his election affidavits. “There is nothing to hide. Let them probe,” Munda, who served as rural development minister in the previous government, said.
State BJP chief Pratul Shahdeo
questioned the timing of the order.
“Our leaders have nothing to hide. But the timing is suspect… two years after the PIL was filed… at a time when chief minister (Soren) is in trouble. He is doing this to deflect attention from his own wrongdoings,” Shahdeo said.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, however, claimed the PIL against the former BJP ministers was filed on the basis of their poll affidavits.
“If they (BJP leaders) have nothing to hide, why are they concerned about the timing of the government order?” JMM leader Manoj Pandey said.
The petitioner said he has provided details of the alleged growth in assets of the former ministers, who were part of Das’s cabinet from 2014 to 2019, in his PIL which is yet to be listed for hearing in high court.