A close aide of former Jharkhand chief Minister Madhu Koda became the first person to be arrested on Friday in the Rs 2,000 crore illegal assets case as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) prepared to arrest Koda who is likely to be discharged from hospital tomorrow.

Vikas Sinha, brother of another Binod Sinha who is believed to be the right-hand man of Koda, was produced before Special Judge Pankaj Kumar who remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

Vikas is allegedly involved in investing and routing Koda's money through hawala channels.

A spokesman of the Abdur Razzak Weavers' Memorial Hospital where Koda got himself admitted on Tuesday complaining of high blood pressure and stomach ache, said his condition was stable.

"Vikas is being questioned in connection with the alleged hawala and illegal investments," Deputy Director, ED Prabha Kant, told newsmen here.

Koda's personal assistant Harendra and some others were also being questioned, a senior IT official said.

Sinha, who was arrested when he appeared before the ED, is the first associate of Koda to be taken into custody by the Directorat. He was among the eight people who were summoned for questioning in the multi-crore scam.

Illegal investments

Thirty-eight-year-old Koda faces charges of having amassed over Rs 2,000 crores through hawala and illegal investments.

After week-long raids on 70 places in nine cities across the country including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, IT officials had on Wednesday sealed a room and almirahs at Koda's residence in Ranchi.

Meanwhile, Sinha was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a local court.

Sinha claimed he was not told by the ED officials about the charges against him.

"They forced me to sign a document and said I have been arrested. No one was allowed to see the document. They have not told me on what ground the arrest was made," he said while being taken away.

When asked about his alleged role in the Rs 4000 crore scam, Sinha claimed he was being framed and that he had been in ED captivity since October 31.

"They are doing this because they have found nothing in the raid. They are putting pressure on us to admit it. I 've been framed. I will definitely appeal.

"I was in Chaibassa at the time of an IT raid. Since October 31, I was in their captivity. Now they have allowed me to go to public," Sinha said.

To a question on his relationship with Koda, Singh said, "Koda is from our constituency. We knew him as an MP. We are into business and we meet sometimes. (But) we never got any favour from him."

Sinha said he had no idea where his brother Binod Kumar Sinha, an associate of Koda, was and claimed that ED had took away him mobile and not returned yet.

ED Department Director Ujjwal Chowdhary, meanwhile, ruled out any narcotest on Sinha saying "such tests do not come under our purview. If he admits to the charges, then it's okay. Otherwise, we will interrogate him on the basis of the evidence we collected against him."