A day after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief was detained on money laundering charges in relation to an alleged land death, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed on Thursday that former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren had unlawfully acquired and possessed 12 adjacent land parcels in Ranchi measuring 8.5 acres. These parcels were obtained by “a very large syndicate” involved in grabbing properties.
The assertion was made by the federal agency when presenting Soren to a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi. The judge placed the JMM leader under judicial custody for a day, despite the fact that the ED had requested a 10-day custody period for him.
According to a news report, 48-year-old Soren was taken into custody by the ED under the PMLA for allegedly stealing land in Jharkhand without permission.
The raids in June 2023 on Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a sub-inspector in the state’s revenue department who was reportedly involved with the land mafia, are what gave rise to the ED case against Soren.
“Prasad was actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren,” ED said in its court documents on Thursday.
The organisation added that it also obtained Prasad’s phone to obtain the specifics of these properties. The list of 12 properties that are close to one another and together comprise a sizable property totaling approximately 850 decimals (8.5 acres) has been obtained from Prasad’s cell phone. Investigation has shown that Hemant Soren has unlawfully obtained and possessed this property, it stated, adding that it is the “proceeds of crime.”
The agency alleged that this property was illegally possessed and used by the former CM, based on multiple people’s recorded testimony and a poll.
Regarding the searches conducted at Soren’s Delhi home on January 29, the ED informed the judge that in addition to records pertaining to the current probe, it had found ₹36.34 lakh in the cabinet that the JMM leader supposedly used.
“Hence, Soren is actively and knowingly involved in the process and activities connected with the acquisition, concealment, possession and use of the proceeds of crime, and projecting the said proceeds of crime as untainted property,” ED alleged.
Shortly after stepping down as chief minister, Soren was taken into custody on Wednesday. This came after an almost seven-hour interrogation by ED agents about the PMLA case, which is connected to the purported land deal in Jharkhand.
The ED was represented by Additional Solicitor General of India (ASGI) Anil Kumar, who requested for the JMM leader to be sent in prison for ten days. The court while sending Soren to one-day judicial custody kept its verdict reserved on the longer custody prayer.
Regarding the aforementioned 8.5-acre property, Soren, who was represented by State’s Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, claimed that the land was subject to the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and could not be transferred. On January 29, the Ranchi special regulation officer returned the land’s ownership to the original owner.
When his personal search took place on Wednesday, Soren refused to take off a ring and a religious locket, according to officials with knowledge of the situation.
According to a news outlet, accused land grabbers in Jharkhand are accused of usurping prime landed plots by forging authentic land records at circle offices and registrar of assurances (RoA), Kolkata, as well as circle offices in Jharkhand, and creating fictitious deeds using false identities. Then, they would obtain certified copies of those deeds before disposing of the properties in connivance with each other. They would use fake stamps/seals using which they created these fake deeds.
Prasad was allegedly involved in a conspiracy with businessman Amit Agarwal, arrested IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, and eight other people: Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali (a kingpin who allegedly created fake deeds on landed properties), Mohammad Saddam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmad, Talha Khan, and Faiyaz Ahmed. Dilip Kumar Ghosh was Agarwal’s close aide.
During the raids last year, the Enforcement Department found 17 original registers and 11 trunks containing numerous property documents from Prasad’s premises. He was an important figure since he was the custodian of numerous original land record registers and the state’s ownership details for them. The Jharkhand government was informed by the agency and on June 1, 2023, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi. ED took cognisance of the FIR to file its money laundering case on June 26.
