New Delhi, Oct 24 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ranchi Zonal Office, announced today that it has filed a fourth supplementary chargesheet as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation into a massive corruption syndicate within the Rural Works Department of the Jharkhand government.
This supplementary complaint before the Special PMLA Court, charges eight new suspects, including contractors, aides, and family members of officials, for their roles in generating, handling, and laundering Proceeds of Crime (POC). With this filing, the number of accused in the case has risen to 22.
The ED’s investigation stems from a predicate offence registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Jamshedpur, where a Junior Engineer, Suresh Prasad Verma, was caught accepting a bribe. A subsequent search led to the seizure of Rs 2.67 crore in cash from the premises linked to the then Chief Engineer of the department, Veerendra Kumar Ram.
The ED has established the existence of a massive corruption syndicate within the department. Earlier complaints detailed the role of the then chief engineer, Veerendra Kumar Ram, in managing the collection of illegal commissions.
The investigation also revealed the alleged role of Alamgir Alam, the then Minister of the Rural Development Department, who is accused of receiving a fixed commission on tenders. This commission was reportedly collected by his personal secretary, Sanjeev Kumar Lal, and his aides.
Earlier searches in the case led to the seizure of over Rs. 37 crore in cash linked to this syndicate. The illicit cash was then laundered through a Delhi-based network of chartered accountants and entry operators and used to acquire numerous high-value assets.
The fourth chargesheet details the specific roles of several contractors who generated the POC by paying bribes. Contractor Rajesh Kumar along with his companies Rajesh Kumar Constructions Pvt. Ltd. and Parmanand Singh Builders Pvt. Ltd. has admitted to paying bribes amounting to Rs. 1.88 crore and providing two luxury vehicles (a Toyota Innova and a Toyota Fortuner) as illegal gratification.
Another contractor, Radha Mohan Sahu, has admitted to paying bribes of Rs. 39 lakh and providing a Toyota Fortuner, registered in his son Ankit Sahu’s name, for the same purpose. All three vehicles, identified as POC, were seized from the possession of Veerendra Kumar Ram.
The complaint also charges other key conduits and aides who managed the illicit cash. A search at the premises of Atikul Rahman alias Atikul Rahman Ansari, an aide to Veerendra Kumar Ram, resulted in the seizure of Rs. 4.40 lakh in cash.
A separate search at the residence of contractor Rajiv Kumar Singh, who acted as a conduit for officials, led to the seizure of another Rs. 2.13 crore in unexplained cash. Singh has admitted to collecting and handling approximately Rs. 15 crore in commission money.
Furthermore, Reeta Lal, the wife of co-accused Sanjeev Kumar Lal (then PS to the Minister), has been charged with acquiring properties with POC and projecting the tainted funds as legitimate income.
The investigation has so far identified and provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 44 crore. The ED has requested the court to prosecute all accused persons named in this complaint and confiscate all assets identified as POC.
