Babulal Marandi, the state president of the BJP and Leader of the Opposition in Jharkhand, has vehemently accused the ruling government of a deliberate strategy to manufacture new crimes to cover up existing illegalities. He stated that the current administration and its associated systems have adopted a disturbing practice of creating fabricated offenses to obscure their involvement in deeper criminal networks. Recent ED investigations into the alleged ‘black empire’ of coal in Dhanbad have reportedly uncovered damning evidence. The most alarming aspect, according to Marandi, is the alleged ‘order’ given by some ‘top police officials,’ whose wealth is purportedly linked to illegal coal trade profits, to ‘permanently eliminate’ certain ground-level operatives of coal mafias. This alarming revelation suggests a conspiracy to silence individuals who might provide critical testimony to the ED, thus preventing the truth from emerging. Marandi recalled similar past events in Jharkhand where ‘encounter killings’ were allegedly staged under the guise of law enforcement to destroy evidence. He referenced a former DGP against whom allegations of contract killings and unparalleled corruption were made, even by members of the ruling coalition. He advised the ED to exercise extreme vigilance, noting that in Jharkhand’s current climate, concealing the truth is often more advantageous than revealing it, and when power structures align with criminal elements, justice is easily compromised.
