In a significant development related to the multi-crore tender commission and money laundering case associated with Jharkhand’s Rural Development Department, retired Engineer-in-Chief Rajiv Lochan and retired Executive Engineer Anil Kumar turned themselves in before the Special PMLA Court in Ranchi. The court granted them conditional bail upon providing personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh each. As part of the bail terms, they must surrender their passports and are prohibited from leaving the country without prior authorization.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently filed a supplementary charge sheet against 14 engineers involved in the case, leading the court to issue summonses to all those implicated. However, the primary accused, former Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam, and his private secretary, Sanjeev Lal, are still facing legal challenges. The Supreme Court denied their bail requests and instructed the trial court to record statements of key witnesses within four weeks and expedite the legal process.
The ED’s investigation uncovered an organized commission-based syndicate operating within the department, where contractors were allegedly coerced to pay approximately 3% commission to secure tenders. Of this amount, about 1.35% was purportedly funneled to the minister, with the rest distributed among officials at different levels. The agency claims that illicit collections exceeding Rs 90 crore were amassed against tenders valued at around Rs 3,048 crore.
The case originated in May 2024 after the ED conducted searches in Jharkhand, Delhi, and Bihar, resulting in the arrest of nine individuals connected to the case. Former minister Alam, his personal secretary Lal, and associate Jahangir Alam are currently in judicial custody. Alamgir Alam was apprehended on May 15, 2024.
The ED’s investigation also revealed that the case is based on an FIR by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jamshedpur, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018.
