Ranchi, Oct. 21: Jharkhand High Court has asked the state government to reply to a PIL that seeks a CBI probe into disproportionate assets of several top politicians, at least six of whom are now ministers in the Shibu Soren government.

Filed by one Durga Oraon, the PIL cites extensive data to allege that many of these ministers had amassed huge amount of wealth in a very short span of time.

Among those named in the PIL were ministers Hari Narayan Rai (urban development), Anosh Ekka (rural development), Dulal Bhuiyan (revenue), Kamlesh Singh (water resources), Bhanu Pratap Sahi (health), Bandhu Tirkey (human resources development) and former minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary.

Oraon has also filed a separate petition against former chief minister Madhu Koda and power broker Binod Sinha alleging they too possessed assets more than their known sources of income.

The court was however not convinced about the claims and directed advocate general P.K.Prasad to file a reply on the point of maintainability of the petition.

The next hearing is on November 26.

Oraon’s counsel Ritu Kumar alleged that Rai had amassed huge amounts of wealth and property after coming to power and had purchased property worth crores in his short span as a minister in the Jharkhand government.

When he filed his nomination papers (for contesting elections), Kumar alleged, Rai wasn’t an income tax payee and did not have a PAN card. But after becoming a minister, Rai amassed property worth about Rs 39 crore.

Kumar also cited a Supreme Court decision by virtue of which a PIL on disproportionate assets of a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was entertained.

The advocate-general, on the other hand, tried to argue that the petitioner could approach the court of the Lokayukta for investigating ministers’ assets.

Oraon has also accused Anosh Ekka of having purchased land in and around the capital in the name of relatives in violation of the Chotanagpur Tenency Act. As for Sahi and Tirkey, they have been included in his PIL for the several criminal cases pending against them.