Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka has been convicted by a Jharkhand court on money-laundering charges, in connection with the case against former chief minister Madhu Koda and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The quantum of sentence for Ekka will be pronounced by a Ranchi court on March 31.
The case pertains to the money-laundering probe involving Koda and others and was unearthed by the Enforcement Directorate in September 2009 in which a number of arrests were made and assets worth hundreds of crores attached. This is the 11th conviction under the law enacted in 2002 and implemented since 2005.
Ekka has served as the rural development minister in the Koda cabinet from 2006-08. In 2014, ED attached assets worth Rs 100 crore (market value) linked to him. CBI earlier accused Ekka, his wife and others of possessing disproportionate wealth of Rs 17 crore, allegedly acquired during his ministerial term.
Ekka was the elcted MLA from Kolebira in Simdega district. The seat falls under the Khunti parliamentary constituency. He then represented the Jharkhand Party (JKP).
This is the second PMLA conviction in the Koda case. In 2017, former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh by a special court in Ranchi. The ED had taken over the case after taking cognisance of a number of Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau FIRs and filed multiple charge sheets under the PMLA.
