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Ranchi land scam: ED files case, attaches two parcels worth ₹74.39 cr
Officials said investigation revealed that the land mafia active in Jharkhand forged land records in Kolkata and Ranchi.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday filed the prosecution complaint in the Ranchi land scam case in which 10 persons, including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, have been arrested on money laundering charges, besides provisionally attaching two land parcels in Jharkhand’s capital worth ₹74.39 crore, officials in the federal agency said.
“Of the two land parcels temporarily attached, one is of 4.55 acres at Bariatu in Ranchi, worth ₹41.51 crore. This land parcel was earlier in the name of Army. The other one, of 7.16 acres at Bajra in Ranchi, has a commercial value of ₹32.87 crore. These land parcels have been registered fraudulently in government records in favour of the land mafia, in connivance with officials of land revenue department,” said an ED official who didn’t want to be named.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR (first information report) registered with Bariatu police station against one Pradip Bagchi based on a complaint of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.
Officials said investigation revealed that the land mafia active in Jharkhand forged land records in Kolkata and Ranchi.
“Subsequently, on the basis of forged land records, such land parcels are sold to other people. ED had carried out 41 searches and five surveys in this matter and incriminating evidence like forged seals of land revenue department, forged land deeds, records of distribution of proceeds of crime among them, photographs doing forgery, evidences of giving bribe to government officials, etc, were seized,” an official said.
In this case, 10 people, namely — Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali (employee of RIMS, Ranchi) , Saddaam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Talha Khan, Faiyaaz Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad (employee of land revenue department), Chhavi Ranjan (IAS officer and ex-deputy commissioner of Ranchi), Kolkata-based businessmen Amit Agrawal and his associate Dilip Kumar Ghosh — have been arrested. All 10 are in judicial custody.
While Ranjan was arrested on May 5, Agrawal and Dilip Ghosh were arrested last week. The two were produced before the special court on Monday and sent to judicial custody, officials said.
Officials said during the course of investigation, the agency shared evidence with Jharkhand government against Bhanu Pratap Prasad and on the basis of the same, Ranchi police have registered an FIR against him.
ED has also shared the evidence of forged seals recovered from the residential premise of Faiyaz Khan, an official said.
Through the course of investigation, officials said, the ED had obtained orders from the court for sending the original land records to Directorate of Forensic Science, Gandhinagar.
“Forensic examination of these records proved the forgery,” an ED official said.
