Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out extensive raids at over 20 locations in Ranchi and Chaibasa today, targeting connections to Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Thakur and IAS officer Manish Ranjan.
According to the sources, this raid is conducted as part of a multi-crore money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the water and sanitation department. The money laundering case originates from a FIR filed by the Jharkhand Police in December 2023 against Santosh Kumar, a former cashier and upper divisional clerk (UDC) at the Drinking Water and Sanitation Suvarnarekha Division in Ranchi, along with several unidentified individuals.
The searches focused on properties associated with key figures, including Vinay Thakur, the minister’s brother, as well as Thakur’s personal secretary, Harendra Singh, and several engineers from the department. Mithilesh Thakur, a former contractor turned politician, wields considerable influence in the current administration.
Among those whose premises were searched were Niranjan Kumar, the regional chief engineer; Prabhat Kumar Singh, the chief engineer for the Harmu Housing Colony; and several executive engineers, including Chandrashekhar and Radhe Shyam Ravi. Other individuals targeted in the raids include former chief engineer Raghunanad Prasad Sharma, as well as various staff members and engineers from the Ranchi area.
Manish Ranjan, who has previously come under scrutiny in connection with a rural development scam, served as secretary in the drinking water and sanitation department for an extended period.
According to ED sources, the raids are linked to ongoing investigations into irregularities within the Jal Jeevan Mission, a central initiative aimed at providing piped drinking water to every household.
While ED officials have remained tight-lipped regarding the outcomes of the raids, the scale of the alleged scam is significant. A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Jharkhand High Court has claimed that the scam could exceed Rs 4,000 crore.
This issue has also been highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders during their campaign efforts in the recent Lok Sabha elections.