The Enforcement Directorate sleuths began questioning Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the alleged land scam case at his official residence in Ranchi on Saturday (20th January). Notably, while responding to the agency’s eighth summon in the case, he had asked the agency to quiz him at his residence.
The ED officials are probing an alleged money laundering that is related to a land scam case under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The developments in the alleged land scam case
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the investigation pertains to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand.
The ED officials are investigating the illegal purchase and sale of 4.55 acres of land under military control in Ranchi.
According to an official statement, the ED had opened a probe into three cases of land fraud based on numerous First Information Reports filed by the Jharkhand Police and the West Bengal Police against Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Bhanu Pratap Prasad as well as others under various Indian Penal Code sections.
It is alleged that a massive mafia racket transferred land ownership illegally in Jharkhand. The government notification stated that “these criminal elements used to forge the legacy records in Ranchi and Kolkata.” Additionally, it was discovered that dishonest government employees had fabricated land ownership records to curry favour with the aforementioned land mafia.
Around 14 individuals have been arrested in this case so far including Bhanu Pratap Prasad, the Revenue Deputy Inspector of Badgai region in Ranchi.
During a raid on Prasad’s residence, the ED seized a substantial amount of government documents along with several suspicious documents retrieved from his mobile phone. The ED is conducting inquiries and verifying the authenticity of the documents and related information through questioning with the Chief Minister. The agency has conducted more than 40 searches and over 5 surveys concerning the case.
Meanwhile, on 1st September 2023, the ED officials had attached three plots worth over Rs 161.64 crore in Ranchi in this case. It is alleged that these land parcels were fraudulently altered to the advantage of land mafias with the help of Land Revenue Department personnel. It was the second attachment in the case taking the total value of the assets that have been attached to a staggering Rs 236 crore.
In September, the ED also filed a second chargesheet in the case. The first prosecution complaint had previously been lodged on 12th June 2023.
Notably, 14 accused arrested in the case include Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali, Saddam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Talha Khan, Faiyaaz Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan (Ex DC Ranchi), Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Amit Kumar Agarwal, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Rajesh Rai, Bharat Prasad, and Prem Prakash.
As per an earlier report, the Chief Minister’s name was mentioned in the statements of businessman Vishnu Agarwal and Revenue Sub-Inspector of Bargain Circle Bhanu Pratap Prasad. The CM would be questioned in connection with the land in Bariatu. Currently, businessman Vishnu Agarwal is in ED custody in connection with the land scam case under the charges of money laundering.
During the interrogation, Vishnu Aggarwal, the director of Nucleus Mall, reportedly revealed the name of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Other legal cases against Jharkhand CM
In November 2022, the ED officials questioned him for nearly nine and a half hours in connection with an alleged illegal mining case. Before his grilling by the agency, ED had arrested two of his close aides in connection with the case. Back then, ED claimed that it had “identified” proceeds of crime relating to illegal stone mining in the state to the tune of Rs 1,000 crores.
It is alleged that while he was overseeing the portfolio of the Mining Minister, he allocated a mining lease contract to himself. During a hearing in the Jharkhand High Court, the state government’s counsel, Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan, termed it a “mistake” and told the court that it had been “surrendered”.
He had earlier declined Seven summons to appear before the ED officials
Since August last year, the ED has issued eight summons to Jharkhand CM in this case. It is important to note that Soren had approached both the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court seeking relief in this case. He filed a petition before both courts, seeking protection from the ED action claiming that the summonses were “unwarranted”. However, both courts dismissed his petitions.
Delhi Chief Minister following the same footsteps
The Aam Aadmi Party Supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has declined to join the ED investigation and has already turned down three summons, claiming that he is being victimised by the Centre through misuse of ED as he has done nothing wrong in the liquor scam case. Now there are reports that he may skip the fourth summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (18th January) as he is scheduled to leave for Goa for a three-day visit.
ED had issued a summons to Kejriwal on 13th January, asking him to appear before it in connection with its probe into the money laundering allegations related to the Delhi excise policy case. On previous occasions, he had cited a busy schedule in Election campaigning and a pre-scheduled ten-day annual Vipassana session while also claiming that the ED summons are illegal and witch-hunt.
