Can’t be mute spectator in police raiding ED office case: Jharkhand HC

Ranchi: A day after the Supreme Court sent notices to Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her govt officials for allegedly preventing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from probing a coal-scam case, it was the turn of the Jharkhand High Court on Friday to clamp a stay on police action and further raiding ED officials in Ranchi, saying the court can’t be a “mute spectator” in such serious cases.The court of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, while hearing the writ petition filed by ED assistant director Pratik and assistant enforcement officer Shubham Bharti directed the ED to implead Union home secretary Govind Mohan as a party in the case. The court has ordered Mohan to depute the CISF/BSF or any other paramilitary force for providing security to the ED office and its officers and asked the Ranchi senior superintendent of police Rakesh Ranjan to ensure security of the ED officers.The court further observed that if there is any lapse in the security of the ED office, the Ranjan will directly be held liable for the same.Police on Jan 15 raided the regional office of the enforcement directorate located at Hinoo in the city in connection with an FIR filed against two personnel of the central agency by an employee of the state govt. The move triggered a chain of political reactions and a “counterstrike” by the central agency as it moved the HC, demanding a CBI probe into the raid. In its petition, the ED alleged that the state force has been directly interfering with its functioning and that the employee inflicted the wounds himself to implicate the agency officials.Earlier on Jan 13, the employee of the state drinking water and sanitation department, Santosh Kumar, complained to the airport police station, alleging that the ED’s assistant director, Pratik, and assistant Shubham, carried out a “deadly attack” against him during an interrogation at their office on Monday.Kumar had alleged that he was taken to the district hospital for treatment of his injuries and added that the ED personnel had threatened him against revealing the incident to anyone, though the agency claimed that Kumar “inflicted self-injuries” upon himself.Following Kumar’s complaint, the Ranchi police summoned the ED officials on Wednesday, and when they failed to comply, a team led by DSP (sadar) Sanjeev Besra started an operation inside the ED office at about 7 am on Thursday. Later, SP (city) K Raman and a forensic expert also joined the team. The police team came out of the office at about 4:30 pm but did not divulge any information about the operation to the media.An angry HC on Friday also ordered that Santosh Kumar be made a party in the case.Arguing on behalf of the ED, advocates A.K.Das and Saurabh Kumar informed that the ED was investigating a scam involving Kumar, running into Rs 23 crore in the drinking water and sanitation department. The ED has also recovered Rs 9 crore from Santosh Kumar.The ED is currently investigating cases involving top govt officials, the counsels said.In course of argument, the court was informed that Santosh was never summoned or called by the ED office and he had come on his own on January 12. This, however, has been refuted by Santosh. The case will again be heard on February 9.