RANCHI: Some of the high-profile suspects in land scam and illegal mining cases are allegedly plotting to implicate Enforcement Directorate officials in false cases, the ED has alleged.
Following a tip-off, the ED on Friday evening raided the premises of Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi and interrogated some of the inmates including Prem Prakash, Amit Agrawal and others.
The officials had inputs that the witnesses were being influenced and evidences were being destroyed by the accused persons lodged in jail.
ED sources also claimed they have collected adequate evidence and witnesses in this regard. Prem Prakash and Amit Prakash, lodged in jail in connection with a land scam and illegal mining case have been found to be involved in hatching the conspiracy against the ED officials, they alleged.
According to ED officials, these people were also being provided support from both inside and outside the jail.
They, however, said that no mobile phone has been recovered from the jail during the raid.
The ED sources also informed that pieces of evidence of destroying CCTV footage, with taking help of technical experts, have also been found during the raid. ED officials also alleged that they had to wait at the main gate of Birsa Munda Central Jail for quite some time before the gate was opened and they were allowed entry into the jail.
Notably, ED is probing two major cases of money laundering in Jharkhand. The first case is related to illegal mining in Sahibganj in which the CM was questioned on November 17 last year. The second case is related to an alleged land scam in the state capital for which Soren has been issued summons multiple times but he did not appear before the ED.
It may be recalled that 13 people, including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan and two businessmen, Amit Agarwal of Kolkata and Bishnu Agarwal, who owns shopping malls in Ranchi, have been arrested in connection with the alleged land scam.
Power broker Prem Prakash said to be close to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after being arrested by ED in both the illegal mining and land scam cases.