Jharkhand tender scam: Sources say Rs 2 crore recovered from Mishra's close aide

After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at multiple locations in Jharkhand that were linked to Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, sources on Friday said that Rs 2 crore was recovered from the residence of Hira Bhagat, who is one of the close associates of Pankaj Mishra.

"During ongoing raids cash amount of around Rs 2 crore was recovered from the residence of Hira Bhagat, one of the close associates of CM Hemant Soren's aide Pankaj Mishra," said sources.

The raids are being carried out in connection with a tender scam at 18 locations, including Sahibganj, Berhait and Rajmahal.

ED is conducting the raids in connection with an alleged scam in availing marketplace tenders in Sahebganj's Barharwa in 2020.

Shambhu Bhagat, who was also bidding for the tender had registered a case against Pankaj Mishra and a few others. He had alleged he was beaten up on the instructions of Pankaj Mishra and even threatened to back off from bidding. The brother of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam was also bidding for the same tender.

The complainant had alleged that in order to get the tender allotted to the minister's brother, a big-scale scam was perpetrated through a fake company.

The ED had taken over the case which was registered at Barharwa police station and started an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

( With inputs from ANI )