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Jharkhand money laundering probe: ED raids multiple locations of IAS officer
The raids are in connection with a money laundering probe conducted by the federal agency at around two dozen locations of IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan over some land deals in Ranchi in the past few years
Officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday began conducting raids at multiple locations linked to IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan across different cities in connection with a land fraud case, people aware of the development said.
The raids are in connection with a money laundering probe conducted by the federal agency at around two dozen locations, including his official residence, over some land deals in Ranchi in the past few years.
Several such deals, including the sale of land allegedly belonging to the Indian Army in Ranchi, are under the scanner, a senior ED official said.
Ranjan, a 2011-batch IAS officer, was the deputy commissioner of Ranchi when the deals were allegedly processed, between 15 July 2020 and 11 July 2022.
He is the second IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre to have come under ED’s scanner in the last one year. Senior IAS officer and then mines secretary Pooja Singhal was arrested on May 11 last year on money laundering charges in connection with an alleged MNREGA scam. Around ₹20 crore was recovered during the raids at locations linked to Singhal and her acquaintances.
Also Read:Ranchi’s special PMLA court charges suspended IAS Pooja Singhal in money laundering case
Besides action against the two, the ED has in the past year also questioned two other IAS officers.
The agency last month questioned Rajiv Arun Ekka, the principal Secretary to chief minister Hemant Soren, after a video of Ekka allegedly singeing official files at the office of businessman Vishal Chaudhary, who is also under the ED scanner.
While Soren removed Ekka from his post, the agency has not taken any action against the senior IAS officer after questioning him for two consecutive days.
In January this year, the ED had also questioned IAS officer and current Sahebganj deputy commissioner Ramniwas Yadav in connection with an illegal mining case.
