Koda scam: Soren’s secretary, other officials raided (Second Lead)

RANCHI - The properties of several senior officials, including Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren’s personal secretary, were raided Tuesday in connection with the Rs.2,500 crore money laundering scam involving former chief minister Madhu Koda.

“The law will take its own course. Raids do not mean that the person is guilty,” Soren said, reacting to the income tax department raids on the home of his personal secretary M.L. Pal.

Pal, who rose from being an engineer in a coal company to the owner of three houses, had earlier been raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On Tuesday, officials swooped down on his homes in Jamshedpur and Ranchi.

Ujjwal Chaudhary, income tax director (investigation), told IANS: “Raids are being conducted at 70 places in several states.”

Sources in the department said raids were on in at least 13 Indian cities spread over five states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Among those whose properties were raided are two former chiefs of the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) - V.N. Pandey and S.M. Verma - as well as retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) bureaucrat and former mines secretary Jaishankar Tiwari. Raids were also conducted on mining officials.

Large scale corruption has been found in the recommendations for awarding of mining leases to different companies during Koda’s rule.

Tiwari, who was mines secretary when Koda was chief minister, has admitted that Koda put pressure on him to get work done. He has also said Koda had cleared a file regarding the recommendation of a mining lease to his close associate Vinod Sinha.

One jewellery shop in Ranchi and a company involved in rural electrification work were also raided.

“The raids are being conducted at the properties of a few officials and two ex-chairmen of JSEB. A large-scale scam was found in rural electrification works,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

According to sources, the raids are related to the Koda scam unearthed last October. While Koda is in jail for having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, his two associates, Sinha and Sanjay Chaudhary, are still absconding.

On Oct 9 last year, Koda was booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). With him were three former minister.