RANCHI: Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of CM Hemant Soren who is currently lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, has approached Supreme Court to challenge the order of the Jharkhand High Court to order a CBI probe into illegal stone mining at Nimbu pahad in Sahibganj.
The Jharkhand High Court on August 18, had ordered a CBI probe into the Rs 1000 crore ‘illegal mining’ case which took place in Sahibganj and adjoining areas of Santhal Paragana.
As per the sources, Pankaj Mishra has filed an SLP before the Supreme Court on August 31 to challenge the Jharkhand High Court order which is yet to be heard. A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi ordered the probe after hearing a criminal writ filed by Vijay Hansda directing the CBI to complete the preliminary inquiry (PE) and submit the report within a month.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been investigating the illegal mining case and arrested and charge-sheeted Pankaj Mishra as one of the masterminds of the scam. Hansda in his petition had demanded a CBI probe informing about the illegal mining being done in the Santhal Pargana region.
Hansda informed the court that when he tried to stop illegal mining, a representative of CM Hemant Soren in Barhet, 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 for withdrawal of the petition and ordered a CBI probe into the matter on Wednesday.
Notably, Hansda’s complaint became the basis of the probe being carried out by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with illegal mining in Jharkhand.
On the basis of Hansda’s complaint, police registered an FIR against Pankaj Mishra and others for illegal mining on the basis of which ED registered a fresh ECIR against Pankaj Mishra and others. Later, Vijay Hansda was arrested by the district police in a criminal case and was allegedly pressurised to withdraw that case.
Hansda, currently on bail, is one of the key witnesses of the ED probing the laundering of money earned by illegal mining.
Meanwhile, the preliminary enquiry conducted by CBI has revealed rampant illegal mining at ‘Nimbu Pahad’ and its adjoining areas in Sahibganj. The agency is also said to have found sufficient evidence to lodge a regular FIR in the case.