Ranchi. Former Jharkhand Finance Minister and senior Congress MLA Rameshwar Oraon appeared for questioning at the regional office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday. The agency had summoned him by issuing a second summons. Rameshwar Oraon reached the ED office at around 11 am. He is being questioned in a money laundering case related to an alleged illegal sand and liquor syndicate. A day before this, on Monday, ED had also interrogated his son Rohit Oraon for a long time. According to sources, the agency questioned him in connection with the raids conducted at his locations in August 2023, about Rs 30 lakh in cash, bank lockers, digital devices and financial documents recovered from there. Apart from this, information was also sought about alleged benami investments, bank accounts and other financial transactions. Sources say that Rohit Oraon could not give clear answers on many important questions. On August 23, 2023, the ED had conducted a search operation under PMLA at Rameshwar Oraon’s residence ‘Ragini Villa’ in Sarhul Nagar, Bariatu, Ranchi. Meanwhile, his locker located in Bariatu branch of Bank of Baroda was also searched and confiscated. Later, for the preservation of digital devices and other seized material, ED issued a retention order on 19 September 2023, which was approved by the Delhi-based Adjudicating Authority on 20 September 2023.
According to sources, during Monday’s interrogation, the ED also asked questions about the Jharkhand Excise Policy of 2021 and the decisions regarding granting wholesale liquor licenses to private companies. The agency is trying to find out whether the then Excise Minister Rameshwar Oraon’s son Rohit Oraon or his family had any role in benefiting the alleged liquor syndicate during his tenure.
ED had earlier issued summons to Rameshwar Oraon on June 30 also. At that time he had asked for time to prepare the necessary documents. After this, the agency issued a second summons and directed him to appear for questioning on Tuesday.
—
Read this also – Click to read the news of your state/city before the newspaper.
