GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 27th Jan. The federal probe agency has written a new letter to state chief minister Hemant Soren asking him to confirm whether he will appear for questioning on January 29 or January 31 in relation to a money laundering case involving an alleged land scam. This has further escalated the already bitter standoff between the Enforcement Directorate and the Jharkhand government.
According to sources, he has been given two dates. The CM office had already responded to the ED’s prior letter, in which he was requested to confirm a date for interrogation that fell between January 27 and January 31. CM, according to sources, acknowledged receiving the letter and promised to “reply in due course” in his response.
ED is now demanding that Soren appear in person at the Ranchi zonal office. The Enforcement Directorate was able to question Soren at his home on January 20, just six months after the initial summons was sent. In the suspected land fraud, the investigation team reportedly asked him fifteen strange questions and conducted a seven-hour examination on him.
The land scam: what is it?
The ED’s investigation is a result of First Information Reports (FIRs) on land misappropriation and land record tampering that were submitted in Jharkhand and Bihar. “Investigations revealed that the land parcels in Ranchi were mutated fraudulently in favor of land mafias in connivance with the officers of land Revenue Department,” the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated in a statement. Based on many FIRs filed by the Jharkhand and West Bengal Police against Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and others under various IPC sections, the ED had opened investigations into three land fraud cases.
“A massive racket of illegal land ownership changes by a mafia gang in Jharkhand was exposed by an ED investigation,” the agency stated in a September 2023 statement.
“The ED said it has discovered criminal elements used to forge the legacy records in Kolkata & Ranchi since taking over the investigation. It is also shown that dishonest government officials have falsified land ownership documents in order to give favors to the aforementioned land mafia.” “Subsequently, on the basis of forged land records, such land parcels are sold to other persons” the agency added. Prior to conducting the investigation, ED conducted 5 surveys and 41 searches. It had discovered counterfeit land deeds and Land Revenue Department seals. The case has a total attachment of Rs 236 crores.
Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali, Saddaam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Talha Khan, Faiyaaz Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Chhavi Ranjan, IAS (Ex DC Ranchi), Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Amit Kumar Agarwal, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Rajesh Rai, Bharat Prasad, and Prem Prakash are among the fourteen defendants that the investigation agency has detained. Additionally, there are two prosecution complaints on file.Prem Prakash, Soren’s close aide, has also been taken into custody in this matter. The state government and the ED are currently engaged in a fierce verbal exchange in which both parties are making grave accusations. Not long after Soren’s interrogation ended, a formal complaint was lodged against CRPF officers stationed outside CM’s home. According to the state administration, it was against prohibitory directives. “CRPF personnel due to security concerns,” according to sources.
