KODA’S EMPIRE SET TO CRUMBLE

With each passing day things have got worse for former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is reportedly set to file charges against Koda and his former colleagues. Koda will be charged under Section 420 and 120-B of the IPC, both related to cheating and committing fraud. He will also be booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Koda’s colleagues Kamlesh Singh, Bandhu Tirkey and Sanjay Chaudhary will also be booked under similar charges. The focus though, is on Binod Sinha who is a friend and key aide to Koda. Sinha is being charged of investing Rs 200 crore in real estate. He reportedly deposited as much as Rs. 20 crore on several occasions in a Jamshedpur bank. Sinha allegedly floated 14 companies in India and two companies in Dubai in collaboration with Sanjay Chaudhary. The cost of the much talked about mine in Liberia – $17 lakh – was all paid for in cash by Koda. Till 2007, Koda was only investing in real estate. During this time he was a minister but his fascination with mines started in 2007 when he became the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Koda, an independent Lok Sabha MP, purchased and distributed around 600 bikes, 25 to 30 Scorpios, Boleros and other four-wheelers to his supporters during the Lok Sabha elections this year, officials in the Income Tax department said. The Income Tax department sleuths questioned Koda at his residence in Ranchi, after having discontinued it in the wake of his illness on November 3. Koda has also been summoned by the ED on November 15. With evidence against him and his associates increasing by the day, his arrest seems to be imminent. But will he go down alone or will there be other big names as well who were his partners in the crime.