Jhakhand govt warns media houses of taking legal action for linking CM to ED raids

The Jharkhand government on Wednesday warned media houses of taking legal action for news reports linking Chief Minister Hemant Soren's name to a person against whom ED conducted raids in multiple locations and recovered two AK series rifles.

Ranchi:The Jharkhand government on Wednesday warned media houses of taking legal action for news reports linking Chief Minister Hemant Soren's name to a person against whom ED conducted raids in multiple locations and recovered two AK series rifles. The image of the elected head of a state has been maligned and the dignity of the public office has been violated by such reports, the Chief Minister's secretariat said in a statement here.

The Enforcement Directorate raided multiple locations in Jharkhand and several other states on Wednesday and recovered two AK series assault rifles as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal mining in the state. The weapons, which the state police later claimed belonged to it and suspended two constables in this connection, were found during the raid in a house in Ranchi, owned by a person named Prem Prakash.

The Office of the Chief Minister, Govt of Jharkhand, takes strong objection to the manner in which certain media platforms have been reporting news of an ongoing ED raid on a private individual and his properties in Ranchi and other places in the country today, the statement of the CM's secretariat read. It said the Jharkhand government has provided cooperation to all investigations undertaken by central agencies and it supports freedom of the press. "Certain news reports by media platforms including a few national TV channels point to a misleading ploy and attempt to intentionally link the Chief Minister of Jharkhand to a private individual against whom ED raid is being conducted today, without any legitimate reason or evidence as per law, it said.

"The alarming tendency of certain media platforms to spread propaganda and malign the democratically elected head of a state establishes apparent sinister motives of a section of the media, the CM's secretariat said. Describing this as highly unfortunate and outright condemnable, the statement said if the state government comes across any further malicious reports and tweets/ digital posts (by media platforms), it will be dealt with as per due legal provisions.

The BJP's Godda MP Nishikant Dubey said in a tweet that Prakash is an "associate of Jharkhand CM and his family friend Amit Agarwal" and that his (Prakash) links should be investigated by the NIA. Independent MLA and former BJP leader Saryu Roy wrote on his Twitter handle that it should be investigated how Prem Prakash obtained the AK series rifles. He had earlier shared photographs of Prakash with former BJP Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The authenticity of the photographs was not independently verified by PTI. The ED searches were carried out after fresh information came to the fore following the questioning of two persons arrested earlier in this case. Ranchi Police later said two constables while returning from duty on August 23 had left their weapons with Prakash's staff whom they know as it was raining. The two constables were suspended with immediate effect, police said. (PTI)