Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President and Leader of Opposition, Babulal Marandi, has accused the Jharkhand government of fabricating new criminal narratives to deliberately conceal the extent of actual crime in the state. Marandi stated that the government and its associated systems have developed a pattern of creating new offenses to mask underlying criminal enterprises. Recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) probes into the coal trade’s dark underbelly in Dhanbad have exposed a disturbing situation. Most critically, it is reported that senior police officials, whose wealth is purportedly linked to illegal coal earnings, have issued ‘targets’ to eliminate key figures within the coal mafia. This alleged move is seen as a direct attempt to silence individuals being questioned by the ED, thereby preventing the exposure of truth. Marandi recalled similar past instances in Jharkhand where ‘evidence encounters’ were allegedly staged under the guise of law enforcement operations. He pointed to a controversial former DGP against whom accusations of orchestrating paid encounters and unparalleled corruption were made, even by members of the ruling party. Marandi cautioned the ED to proceed with heightened awareness, noting that individuals who suppress truth often hold sway, not those who reveal it. He concluded that when power structures, institutional mechanisms, and criminal networks converge, the subversion of justice becomes a foregone conclusion.
