The Supreme Court on Friday, May 3, refused to stay an ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged illegal mining at Nimbu Pahadi of Sahibganj district in Jharkhand.
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta, while listing the matter for further hearing in the week commencing July 8, barred the central investigative agency from filing a chargesheet into the case before the trial court.
“There will be no stay on the probe but no chargesheet to be filed (in interim) and no final report to be given to trial court till then,” it ordered.
Notably, the state government had moved to the apex court against a Jharkhand High Court’s decision of dismiss its petition against a CBI probe into the matter.
The state government, in the petition while challenging the First Information Report (FIR), mentioned that no consent had been taken by the CBI under the Delhi Special police Establishment Act 1946. Though the petition filed by the State government was dismissed by the Jharkhand High Court in February.
It should be noted that the CBI launched a probe into the matter on the basis of a High Court order directing the central agency to conduct a preliminary investigation into the allegation of illegal mining in August last year.
Earlier, the CBI had raided a number of premises linked to Pankaj Mishra, a key figure and Enforcement Directorate (ED) accused in the illegal mining case on Sahibganj’s Nimbu Pahadi, through which Rs 1000 crore were generated illegally, according to the ED findings.
In the raids conducted by the CBI team in December last year, it had recovered many incriminating documents. The raids conducted by the CBI are first of their kind in the case after the agency filed a First Information Report (FIR) based on the findings of a preliminary investigation that was commenced following a court order.
ED’s Investigation into the matter
It is worth mentioning that the ED is also investigating a money laundering case in connection with the illegal mining at Nimbu pahadi. The ED had initiated its investigation into the matter on the basis of an FIR filed in the case in Sahibganj district.
Earlier, the sleuths of the agency had also raided around a dozen of locations linked to government officials and close aides of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with the case in January this year.
It was then reported that separate teams of the ED raided premises linked to Sahibganj Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Rajendra Dubey, Sahibganj Deputy Collector (DC), Ramnivas Yadav, media advisor of CM Hemant Soren, Pintu alias Abhishek Prasad and others.
Significantly, the Economic Intelligence Agency had also conducted raids at more than 25 locations pertaining to the case, following which Mishra along with others key accused in the case were arrested in the year 2022. The ED had also summoned former CM Soren in November 2022 in connection with the case.
Illegal mining at Nimbu Pahadi
The case came to limelight after Bijay Hansda, a resident of Sahibganj district filed a petition in court alleging that for the last two and a half years, stone mafias were carrying out illegal mining in connivance with government officials in Nimbu Pahdi of Sahibganj.
In his petition, Hansda had further alleged that the accused, including Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, were using earthmoving machines and carrying blasts in the region. Hansda had also alleged that his complaint against Mishra had fallen on deaf ears as no action was initiated against Mishra by the district officials.
However, a month after filing the petition, Hansda turned hostile during the hearing of the matter on September 12 last year and claimed that he never witnessed any illegal mining on Nimbu Pahad and that the accused, Pankaj Mishra, had never misbehaved with him.
Later on, Hansda also travelled to New Delhi to quash the High Court’s order for a preliminary inquiry into the matter by the CBI, though the apex court had then refused to stay the High Court’s order. It is pertinent to mention here that the ED officials are also investigating the role of Sahibganj Superintendent of Police (SP), Naushad Alam in influencing the ED’s witness, Bijay Hansda.
