Ranchi, March 18 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its fifth supplementary charge sheet in the Jharkhand Rural Works Department (RWD) money laundering case before the Special Court for PMLA cases in Ranchi, an agency statement said on Wednesday.
The action was taken by the Ranchi Zonal Office on March 17, under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The charge sheet names 14 engineers and officials from the Rural Works Department (RWD), Rural Development Special Zone (RDSZ), and the Jharkhand State Rural Road Development Authority (JSRRDA) as fresh accused.
With this, the total number of accused in the case has risen to 36 across all charge sheets.
The case is based on an FIR by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jamshedpur, under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018.
According to the ED, its investigation has uncovered a well-organized bribery network within the RWD, the RDSZ, and the JSRRDA, wherein a fixed commission of around 3 per cent of the total tender value was collected from contractors in exchange for awarding contracts.
The agency stated that the commission was distributed through a hierarchical chain: about 1.35 per cent allegedly went to then Minister Alamgir Alam through his personal secretary, Sanjeev Kumar Lal; 0.65 per cent to 1 per cent to the departmental secretary; and the remaining portion to chief engineers and subordinate officials.
Against total tender allocations of approximately Rs 3,048 crore, the proceeds of crime are estimated to exceed Rs 90 crore.
Those newly named include retired Chief Engineers Singrai Tuti, Rajeev Lochan, Surendra Kumar, and Pramod Kumar; Executive Engineers Santosh Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Ajay Tirkey, Raj Kumar Toppo, Ashok Kumar Gupta, Siddhant Kumar and Anil Kumar (Retd.); Assistant Engineers Ram Pukar Ram and Ramesh Ojha (both retired); and former Superintending Engineer/Engineer-in-Chief Umesh Kumar (Retd.).
The ED said its probe established their active role in the collection, aggregation and transfer of illicit commission amounts, which constitute proceeds of crime under the PMLA.
So far, the agency has conducted 52 searches across Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar, and arrested nine persons in connection with the case. Former minister Alam, his personal secretary Lal and associate Jahangir Alam are currently in judicial custody.
The ED has also issued three provisional attachment orders, attaching assets worth around Rs 44 crore, all of which have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority.
Additionally, cash amounting to about Rs 38 crore has been seized, including Rs 32.20 crore from premises linked to Lal and Rs 2.93 crore from Munna Singh, along with eight luxury vehicles.
Earlier, the ED had filed one main charge sheet and four supplementary charge sheets in the case. The court has taken cognisance of all of them.