Enforcement Directorate gets permission to quiz Koda

A special court has allowed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED)plea to quiz former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda in connection with the multi-crore money laundering scam.

The court of special judge, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Pankaj Kumar, granted the permission yesterday after the ED moved a petition arguing that interrogation of Koda was necessary to accelerate investigation into the scam.

Koda, now in judicial remand after being arrested by the vigilance sleuths on November 30, was admitted to a hospital here on December 10 after he complained of abdominal pain in jail.

"The ED officials can interrogate Koda in the hospital after taking permission from the doctors and in the event of he being going back to jail after his recovery," said ED counsel SR Das.

Apart from the DA case being probed by the state vigilance department, Koda was also booked by the ED on October 9 in connection with the Rs4,000 crore money laundering scam.

In raids on October 31 on 70 premises, the Income Tax department has claimed to have found evidence of Rs2,000 crore hawala transactions and illegal investments of Koda and his aides, including Vinod Sinha and Sanjay Choudhary.

Sinha and Choudhary have been evading arrest even after the ED court issued warrants.