ED custody for 2 former Jkhand ministers

A special court in Ranchi on Thursday granted the custody of former Jharkhand cabinet ministers Enos Ekka and Hari Narayan Rai for 10 days to the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

A special court in Ranchi granted the police custody of the duo to the ED for "the purpose of ensuring proper investigation in the matter and unearth the undisclosed properties, documents of their investments".

The ED in its plea also said that during the custody period the accused would be taken to different places in Jharkhand and Patna for further investigation.

Earlier, the Director General of Police (Vigilance) of Jharkhand had claimed that investigations had revealed that Ekka possessed Rs 6.67 crore and Rai possessed Rs 1.63 crore, over and above their known sources of income.

The two former ministers are presently lodged in jail after they surrendered before the vigilance court last month in connection with the case.

The ED has filed a case against the two ministers under section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on September 4.

The ED contested the plea of the defence that no further interrogation of the accused was necessary saying that the duo's custody would help in "identification" of properties and other documents.