A special Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court on Thursday sent Jharkhand High Court advocate Rajeev Kumar, accused of extorting a Kolkata-based businessman, to a six-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand. Rajiv Kumar, who had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren over corruption, was arrested by the Kolkata Police Detective Department (DD) on charges of duping people of money.
On Thursday, the Jharkhand HC judge, currently lodged in Alipur jail, was produced before a special judge, Prabhat Kumar Sharma, in a PMLA court in Ranchi via video conferencing from Kolkata. He was arrested by West Bengal police in connection with extortion of money from a Kolkata-based trader, Amit Agarwal. Police found cash amounting to Rs 50 lakh with him in July.
The Ranchi unit of the ED filed the case based on which a Jharkhand court asked the authorities to produce him before it on August 18, sources had told India Today.
ADVOCATE CAUGHT RED-HANDED TAKING MONEY
Rajeev Kumar was arrested by the Kolkata police from a parking lot of the state’s capital city with Rs 50 lakh in his possession. The police have alleged that Kumar had filed a PIL (public interest litigation) against a Kolkata-based businessman and later demanded Rs 10 crore to withdraw the petition. He was allegedly caught red-handed by the Kolkata police while receiving Rs 50 lakh as the first instalment.
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A team of senior ED officials has left for Kolkata to bring back Rajeev Kumar to Ranchi for questioning. The ED had taken over the case after Rs 50 lakh was recovered from the possession of Rajiv Kumar. His client had filed two PILs against CM Hemant Soren demanding an ED / CBI probe. A PIL was filed by Rajiv Kumar on behalf of his client, RTI activist Shiv Sharma, accusing CM and his family for amassing wealth beyond the known source of income by investing in shell companies.
Incidentally, Amit Agarwal was one of the respondents in the case. In lieu of providing Agarwal some respite, Rajeev Kumar had extorted Rs 50 lakh from the businessman when he was caught red-handed by the West Bengal Police.
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He was sent to Alipore jail after his arrest on July 31. During the course of the investigation, the West Bengal Police learnt to have retrieved some WhatsApp conversations between Rajiv kumar and ED’s Deputy Director Subodh Kumar, who was posted in Ranchi at that time.
Kolkata police even summoned the deputy director of the Odisha zonal office of the ED, Subodh Kumar, and asked him to record his statement. Subodh Kumar was earlier posted as deputy director at the Ranchi zonal office of the agency. The central agency will now question Rajeev Kumar regarding the seizure of cash.
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