In a significant relief for five ministers from the former Chief Minister Raghubar Das's Cabinet, the Jharkhand High Court on Monday rejected a petition demanding an inquiry into their wealth.
The petition, filed by one Pankaj Yadav, called for an investigation into the allegedly disproportionate assets of the ministers. However, the bench led by Chief Justice Ramchandra Rao dismissed the plea.
Advocate Piyush Chitresh, representing the State government, stated, “The court dismissed the PIL, noting that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is already conducting an investigation, making the court’s intervention unnecessary.”
It’s worth mentioning that the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Jharkhand High Court in 2020, accusing five ministers from the previous Raghubar Das administration of acquiring properties worth several times more than their known sources of income.
In his PIL, Pankaj Yadav had requested a CBI probe against former ministers Randheer Kumar Singh, Amari Kumar Bauri, Neera Yadav, Louis Marandi, and Neera Yadav, claiming their assets had increased by as much as 1100 per cent over the past five years.
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Interestingly, Louis Marandi is currently serving as a JMM MLA. In July 2023, Chief Minister Hemant Soren approved an ACB inquiry against the five ex-ministers. Following this, the ACB launched an investigation, during which Pankaj Yadav's allegations were found to have merit.
Subsequently, the ACB issued notices to the former ministers and the petitioner after registering a preliminary inquiry (PE) into the matter. The case is presently being handled by the ACB.
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