RANCHI: In a major disappointment to the State Government, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday dismissed the appeal against the CBI probe in the illegal mining case in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. The Court of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad also lifted the stay put on the CBI probe in the matter on January 20.Earlier, the court had kept its order reserved, which was pronounced on Friday. The State Government in its plea had said that neither the consent was taken from it, nor any court had ordered the investigation in the mining lease, therefore, in such a situation there is no point in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) interfering in the investigation. The state government also argued before the court that the High Court in its order had asked the CBI to do a preliminary investigation on why Vijay Hansda withdrew his petition, rather than initiating a probe on illegal mining.Notably, the ED had been investigating the matter after registering an ECR on the basis of the FIR lodged by CBI in the matter.Earlier, after hearing a criminal writ filed by Vijay Hansda in August last year, the court had asked the CBI to complete the preliminary inquiry (PE) and submit the report within a month. Hansda through his petition had demanded a CBI probe informing about illegal mining at Nimbu Pahar in Sahibganj.Through his petition, Hansda informed the court that when he attempted to stop illegal mining, MLA representative of the then chief minister Hemant Soren, Pankaj Mishra, threatened him with dire consequences.Incidentally, Hansda had filed an Interlocutory Application (IA) a couple of days back to withdraw the writ petition saying that it was not filed by him but the court dismissed his application. When he tried to lodge an FIR against Pankaj Mishra, the police refused to lodge the case. Later, he filed a court complaint following which the court directed the Sahibganj police to lodge the FIR.
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