RANCHI: Jharkhand High Court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) to probe the illegal mining case in Sahibganj district. The court asked the CBI to complete the preliminary inquiry (PE) and submit the report within a month.
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi ordered the probe after hearing a criminal writ filed by Vijay Hansda. Hansda through his petition demanded a CBI probe informing about illegal mining at the said place.
Through his petition, Hansda informed the court that when he attempted to stop illegal mining, MLA representative of chief minister Hemant Soren, Pankaj Mishra, threatened him with dire consequences.
Incidentally, Hansda had filed an Interlocutory Application (IA) a couple of days back to withdraw the writ petition saying that it was not filed by him but the court dismissed his application.
“The court in its order on Friday directed the CBI to investigate illegal mining in Sahibganj as well as the allegations made by Hansda as to how the petition was filed in the High Court in his name without his consent,” said the advocate appearing on behalf of Hansda.
Notably, Vijay Hansda is one of the witnesses of the ED probing the laundering of money earned by illegal mining. He tried to stop the illegal mining on Nimbu Pahar When he was threatened by Pankaj Mishra, a representative of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
When he tried to lodge an FIR against Pankaj Mishra, the police refused to lodge the case. Later, he filed a court complaint following which the court directed the Sahibganj police to lodge the FIR.