Ekka sentenced to 7 years' rigorous imprisonment for money laundering
Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka was on Thursday sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 2 crore by a special court in Ranchi in a money laundering offence, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said. The quantum of sentence was pronounced via a video conference by special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) judge Anil Kumar Mishra.
Ekka, 45, is currently lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda jail in connection with another criminal case.
He was being probed by the ED in the money laundering case registered against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and others.
The former minister was convicted on March 21 by the same court in the Jharkhand capital and the sentencing was stipulated for a later date.
"Ekka is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for seven years for the offence under section 4 of the PMLA and to pay a fine of Rs 2 crore. In default of fine, he will undergo RI for an additional year," the federal probe agency said in a statement.
It added that assets worth Rs 22.38 crore of Ekka and his family members have been ordered to be "confiscated" by the court under the anti-money laundering law.
The attached assets are in the form of movable and immovable assets like residential properties, lands, fixed deposits, balances in bank accounts, national savings certificates, Kisan Vikas Patras, vehicles, rifles and pistols among others.
"These confiscated assets were held in the name of the accused (Ekka), his family members and companies owned by him and his family," the agency said.
Ekka, who was a minister in the Madu Koda cabinet from 2006-2008, was earlier held guilty by the court "of offences of money laundering to the tune of Rs 20,31,77,852 as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA," the ED had said in a statement after his conviction.
The ED had booked the former rural development minister under the PMLA following a Jharkhand vigilance bureau criminal complaint.
The CBI had earlier accused Ekka, his wife and others of possessing disproportionate wealth of Rs 17 crore, allegedly acquired during his ministerial term in the Koda dispensation.
Ekka has represented the Kolebira constituency in the Jharkhand assembly. The seat falls under the Khunti parliamentary constituency. He then represented the Jharkhand Party.
This is the second PMLA conviction in the Koda case as in 2017, former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh.
Overall, this is the 11th conviction under the law enacted in 2002 and implemented from 2005.
The ED has filed multiple charge sheets under PMLA in this case.
