ED raids IAS officer, others in Jal Jeevan Mission case in Jharkhand

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted searches in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme's implementation in poll-bound Jharkhand, official sources said. More than 20 locations in Ranchi are being covered as part of the probe. Some locations in Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district were also raided, the sources said. Premises linked to IAS officer Manish Ranjan, a personal staffer of drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, his brother, some government officials, contractors and businessmen are being searched by the federal probe agency, they said. Ranjan is the secretary of the Land, Road and Building department and has been questioned by the ED earlier in a separate money laundering case in which it arrested former minister Alamgir Alam. Thakur charged that the raids are "politically motivated" as he refused to "buckle under pressure" of the saffron brigade to join the BJP. Alleging