Ranchi: Devendra Mukhia, an alleged aide of
former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, on Tuesday surrendered
before the Income Tax department here which wants to probe his
involvement in the alleged hawala and illegal investments
case.
Mukhia is among the four persons, who had failed to meet
the November 6 deadline set by the I-T department to appear
before it for questioning in connection with Rs 2000 crore
hawala transactions and illegal investments case.
The scam surfaced after the department launched raids on
76 premises across the country on October 31, including on the
residences of Koda.
Koda, who was the Mines minister during the Arjun Munda
government from 2004, had retained the portfolio after taking
over the reigns in September 2006.
Koda has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate to
appear before it on November 13 and would be interrogated by
IT officials from tomorrow, I-T's Additional Director
(Investigation), Ajit Srivastav, said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the department is contemplating to issue
arrest warrants against the other three wanted by it - Binod
Sinha, Sanjay Kumar Choudhary and Manoj Punamiya.
Srivastava said the IT department had requested the ED to move the appropriate authorities to get all the emails exchanged by the accused during the last three years in connection with the illegal investments and hawala transactions.
The decision comes after the department on Saturday took into possession all mine related documents to look into how mine leases were allotted during Koda's tenure as Mines minister under the Arjun Munda government and later under his own regime.
The IT official said several teams were working in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jamshedpur and other places to gather evidence.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 09, 2009, 13:08