Former Jharkhand CM arrested on money laundering charges

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was today arrested by the state Vigilance Commission, nearly two months after a case was registered against him in a multi-crore hawala scam.

"We have reached at a stage when his arrest was necessary. We had taken the arrest warrant from the competent court," inspector general of police, Vigilance, MV Rao told PTI.

38-year-old Koda, who is being jointly investigated by the vigilance commission, Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate, was arrested from the Chaibasa district of the state.

Koda has been remanded to 14 days judicial custody by the Special Vigilance Court.

Koda had repeatedly avoided appearing before the Enforcement Directorate and the state vigilance commission in connection with the disproportionate asset and the Prevention of Money Laundering case against him and his close associates.

Sources in the ED said the Directorate will also join the questioning of the former CM.

During raids on his premises, the IT department had claimed to have found evidence of hawla transactions and illegal investments running into more than Rs2,000 crore. The Enforcement Directorate had registered a case against him on October 10.

While BJP slammed the Centre for the "delayed" action, the Congress and the RJD said the law will take its own course.