Edited by Deepali Verma
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had illegally acquired and possessed 12 adjacent land parcels in Ranchi measuring 8.5 acres, under control of “a very large syndicate” involved in grabbing properties, claimed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 1, a day after the arrest of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief on money laundering charges in connection with an alleged land deal.
The federal agency laid these claims while producing Soren before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi, which had sent the JMM leader to judicial custody for close to a day even as ED sought his 10-day custody.
The ED case against Soren has its origin from June 2023 raids against Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a sub-inspector in the revenue department in the state, who has allegedly worked alongside the land mafia.
“Prasad had an active participation in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner that involved the properties which were illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren,” said ED in its court documents on February 1.
Moreover, the agency recovered the details of these properties from Prasad’s phone as well. “The list of 12 properties, adjacently situated, make a very big property of an area of about 850 decimals (8.5 acres) have been recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad. Investigation has brought to light this property that is illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren,” it said, adding this property is “proceeds of crime”.
Several people with their recorded statement as well as a survey done established that this property was under the illegal possession and in use of the former CM, the agency claimed.
Searches conducted at Soren’s Delhi residence on January 29, ED informed the court that it has recovered ₹36.34 lakh from the cupboard allegedly used by the JMM leader apart from the documents related to the ongoing investigation.
“Therefore, Soren is involved in the process along with the activities connected to acquisition, concealment, possession and use of the proceeds of crime, and reporting the said proceeds of crime as untainted property,” ED alleged.
Additional solicitor general of India (ASGI) Anil Kumar, representing ED, requested for the 10-day custody of the JMM leader. The court though sent Soren to one-day judicial custody, it kept its verdict reserved on the longer custody prayer.
In reference to the said 8.5-acre property, Soren, represented by state’s advocate general Rajeev Ranjan, contended that the land fell under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and it cannot be transferred. However, the special regulation officer in Ranchi had restored the possession of the land back to its original owner on January 29.
As per the reports of HT, accused land grabbers in Jharkhand allegedly usurped prime landed parcels by making fake deeds with the help of manufactured identities and falsifying original land records at circle offices and registrar of assurances (RoA), Kolkata and circle offices in Jharkhand. Then, they would obtain certified copies of those deeds before disposing of the properties in connivance with each other. They would further employ fake stamps/seals via which they created these fake deeds.
The agency has alleged that Prasad was working with others such as businessman Amit Agarwal, arrested IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, and eight other individuals by the name of Dilip Kumar Ghosh (a close aide of Agarwal), Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali (alleged kingpin who created fake deeds on landed properties), Mohammad Saddam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmad, Talha Khan and Faiyaz Ahmed.
There has been a recovery of 11 trunks holding voluminous property documents by ED from Prasad’s premises along with 17 original registers during the raids last year. As a custodian of many original registers of land records as well as their ownership details of the state, he was a key person. The agency shared the information with the Jharkhand government, which got a first information report (FIR) registered against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi on June 1, 2023. ED took cognisance of the FIR to file its money laundering case on June 26.
