Gift Baiting, Fake Conferences, Black Magic: ED's Unconventional Probe Into Jharkhand Scam
News 18Booking hotels in the name of employees of the Geological Survey of India, gathering officers in Ranchi for raids under the guise of a conference, arresting an absconding accused by baiting his wife through Diwali offer calls, facing alleged ‘black magic’ antics by the wife of a senior IAS officer, and more – this is what the Enforcement Directorate team is said to have endured to continue with its investigation into Jharkhand’s land and stone mining scam. News18 spoke with several officers in the agency and local sources to understand how ED’s operation in Jharkhand unfolded over the last two years. ‘Havan’ to Black Magic During the course of the investigation, the officers also came to know that the family members of the accused persons were performing several ‘rituals’, including havan, to keep the ED officers away from their family members. According to some of the telephonic conversations between the accused members and their family or friends, as intercepted by the agency, the family members discussed ways to build a resistance to ED raids by indulging in ‘black magic’ or ‘jadoo tona’.