Anosh Ekka, a former Jharkhand Minister, was on Saturday convicted by a special court in Ranchi in connection with a money-laundering case.
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Ekka was the Minister of Rural Development in the Cabinet of the then Chief Minister Madhu Koda from March 2005 to December 2008. “The special court convicted him for his involvement in the laundering of about ₹20.32 crore. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on March 31,” said an ED official.
In November 2008, the State’s vigilance bureau had registered the corruption case against Ekka and others. About a year later, it filed a chargesheet against him. Based on the case, the ED initiated a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On the Jharkhand High Court’s direction, the CBI later took over the corruption case and filed another chargesheet in January 2012, alleging disproportionate assets worth ₹16.82 crore.
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The ED identified immovable and movable assets amounting to about ₹20.32 crore and filed a chargesheet against Ekka and another former State Minister Hari Narayan Rai in December 2009. Rai was sentenced to seven years’ jail in January 2017.
