Centre conducts raids before polls when they feel they are losing: JMM leader Pandey

Ranchi: As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided various premises in Jharkhand as part of a probe in a money laundering case related to an alleged liquor scam, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party leader Manoj Pandey on Tuesday said that the Centre gets such things done when it fears that it is losing the elections.

The ED on Tuesday raided premises linked to IAS officer Vinay Choubey, some other government officers and a number of businessmen in Jharkhand, which is a poll-bound state, and in Chhattisgarh.

The searches were being undertaken at 15 premises in Ranchi and Raipur after a case was registered by the Jharkhand office of the federal probe agency taking cognisance of an FIR by the Chhattisgarh police's Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Talking to IANS, Manoj Pandey said, "We knew beforehand that they will get such things done just ahead of the polls. All BJP-ruled governments do this when they start losing hope of winning the polls. Then they start orchestrating such activities."

"You have seen that in the last Lok Sabha elections, how they sent our leader Hemant Soren to jail without any reason. The court had also commented on this and said that they didn't find any evidence. In the same way, these raids are being done at the behest of the Central government. They are misusing constitutional institutions like the ED for their benefit," he added.

Pandey further claimed that this had not happened since Independence.

"I have not heard of anything like this ever since we got Independence. But, the BJP government is using such tricks now to win the state just ahead of the polls. They could have conducted such raids after 10-20 days," he stated.

Pandey further questioned the Centre's motive behind such raids.

"What message is the Centre trying to give? It proves that the ED works on the directives of the Centre. I consider all this politically motivated and the ED will not get any facts or evidence regarding it. Let's see what they will get," he concluded.