'I'm sure you have not considered facts and figures..': Hemant Soren in his letter to ED

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'falsely implicating' him in connection with charges of illegal mining worth Rs 1,000 crores in the state's Sahebganj district on Thursday.

Soren alleged Ravi Kejriwal, a former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha member, made false remarks at the BJP's request. "... since then, Kejriwal has become my sworn adversary, and I would not be shocked if he has faked claims against me... to settle personal scores," the chief minister said. 

Soren asked Enforcement Directorate, which summoned him for interrogation this morning, to conduct a 'fair and impartial investigation.'

In his letter to ED, Soren said that every state blessed with natural resources is also affected by the curse of unlawful mining... Jharkhand is no different. He also added that he is determined to end all such operations and welcomed genuine assistance from the central agency in the same.

Soren, in his defence, said that 'to cause a loss of Rs 1,000 crores from mining royalties, nearly eight crores MT of stone is necessary to be unlawfully mined in Sahebganj... that is more than four times the legally extracted quantity.'

He mentioned the number of trucks and rakes (to transport the material via railways) that would be required to move such massive volumes of unlawfully mined stone.

"More than 20,000 rakes or 33,00,000 trucks would be required, as each rake has a capacity of roughly 4,000 MT and each truck has a capacity of about 25 MT."

"Apart from the impossibility of transportation, where are the crushers and associated logistics such as tippers, etc., in Sahebganj to carry out illicit mining of four crore MT per year when legal mining is roughly one crore MT per year?"

"... am confident... you have not studied (the above facts and numbers) while accusing a scam of Rs 1,000 crores," Soren added. "I hope and believe that you will reconsider your claims and refrain from making sensational remarks that are not backed by facts or figures..." he concluded.

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