Ranchi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a fifth supplementary chargesheet against 14 govt engineers and officers before the PMLA court here in a case relating to alleged irregularities in the rural development department. With this, the total number of accused in the case has risen to 36.ED on Wednesday stated that the engineers and officials are from rural works department, rural development special zone (RDSZ), and Jharkhand State Rural Road Development Authority (JSRRDA). ED said that its investigation has established that a systematic commission and bribery racket was operating within these entities, whereby a fixed commission on total tender value was collected from contractors in lieu of tender allotments.According to ED, the commission was distributed hierarchically, with 1.35% given to then minister Alamgir Alam through his personal secretary Sanjeev Kumar Lal, 0.65-1% to the departmental secretary, and the balance to chief engineers and their subordinate engineers. Against total tender allotments of around Rs 3,048 crore, the total proceeds of crime exceed Rs 90 crore.So far, ED has conducted 52 searches under Section 17 of the PMLA across Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar, arrested nine persons, issued three provisional attachment orders attaching properties valued at around Rs 44 crore, and seized around Rs 38 crore in cash.
