Jharkhand illegal-mining case: ED arrests middleman Prem Prakash

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a man identified as Prem Prakash in connection with its ongoing money-laundering probe into an illegal mining case in Jharkhand, officials said on Thursday.

Prakash was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) around 2 am on Thursday and will be produced before a Ranchi court where the federal agency will seek his custody, they said.

This is the third arrest in the case.

Earlier, the ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Mishras associate and muscleman Bachhu Yadav.

The agency had on Wednesday launched searches at premises linked to Prakash in Ranchi, apart from a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, and recovered two AK-47 rifles and 60 bullets from a house linked to Prakash in the state capital here.

The weapons belonged to two Jharkhand Police constables, who were suspended after the ED made the recoveries.

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