The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested a Ranchi-based businessman early on Thursday in connection with a case of illegal coal mining following raids to probe a money-laundering charge.
Prem Prakash Sahu, believed to have close connections with bureaucrats and politicians, was in the afternoon remanded in six days’ ED custody for further questioning.
Against the backdrop of a search at a flat in Ranchi taken on rent by Sahu, ED “sources” had said on Wednesday that two AK-47 rifles and 60 live cartridges had been seized. Ranchi police had later said the weapon and ammunition belonged to two police constables who were suspended on Wednesday for negligence.
The ED had raided premises linked to Sahu in Ranchi, apart from a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, all governed by non-BJP parties.
The raid had started a slugfest between the BJP and the ruling JMM.The BJP’s Godda MP, Nishikant Dubey, had tweeted that Sahu was an “associate of Jharkhand CM and his family friend Amit Agarwal” and that the businessman’s links with these people should be investigated by the NIA.
JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya accused Sahu of having close links with BJP leader and former chief minister Raghubar Das.
“We would like agencies to probe deep into the antecedents of Prem Prakash Sahu and find out who gave him contracts when the BJP was in power in the state,” Bhattacharya said.
