Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has written a letter to Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking his direction to railway authorities to cooperate with the investigation team formed to probe the involvement of railway officials in illegal mining and its transportation.

The letter written in Hindi on Wednesday evening and shared by the chief minister on his personal Twitter handle around 6.15pm draws the attention of the Union railway minister to the ED prosecution complaints in the illegal mining done in Sahebganj in the last two years.

“The ED has in its complaint alleged that in Sahebganj in the last two years illegal stones have been transported without challans in over 3531 railway rakes from different loading points. “Illegal transportation of minerals in railways also comes under the Jharkhand Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2017,” the letter states.

The letter informs that the mines secretary and district-level officials have also written several letters to the railway authorities to allow the transport of minerals through legal e-challans only.

“Despite all efforts, there is information that the railway is allowing transport/storage of minerals without legal challans. It is evident that railway authorities are involved in the illegal transport of minerals.

“It seems that railway is also not integrating its FOIS (Freight Operations Information System) with JIMMS portal of state government as part of a conspiracy and allowing transport of minerals either without challans or fake challans,” the letter further alleges.

The letter informs that the state government has constituted a high-level committee to probe into the role of railway officials in the transportation of illegally mined minerals.

“I have full confidence that your good office would direct the railway officials to cooperate in the investigation by the high-level committee. We would request your kind office to instruct railway officials for integrating railway FOIS with state government JIMMS for better execution of Jharkhand Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2017 and ensure that no mineral is transported through the railway without valid challans,” the letter adds.

Hemant Soren was questioned by Enforcement Directorate in November in a money laundering case linked to illegal mining. His political representative in his home Assembly constituency Pankaj Mishra has already been arrested by ED in the illegal mining and money laundering case.