RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday sent summon to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in an alleged land scam. According to the ED sources, Soren has been asked to appear for questioning at its zonal office in Ranchi on August 14.
In November 2022, Soren was grilled by ED for about 10 hours in connection with an illegal mining case.
The federal agency has been probing two major cases of money laundering in the state. The first case is related to illegal mining in the state and the second is related to alleged land scams in the state capital.
At least 13 persons, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan and two businessmen- Amit Agrawal of Kolkata and Bishnu Agrawal-, who owns shopping malls in Ranchi, have already been arrested in connection with the land scam.
Bishnu Agrawal has been arrested based on the FIR registered with Sadar police station for the fraudulent sale of a one-acre plot in upscale Cheshire Home Road in Ranchi. Besides the Cheshire Home Road property and 9.3-acre plot at Namkum, Agrawal, in connivance with DC Chhavi Ranjan and others, also bought a 5.83-acre plot at Bariatu in Ranchi, which is in possession of the Indian Defence establishment since 1949.
Investigation revealed that a racket of land mafia is active in Jharkhand which used to forge the legacy records in Kolkata and Ranchi.
Earlier, ED carried out 41 searches and 5 surveys in this matter during which, several incriminating pieces of evidence like forged seals of the land revenue department, forged land deeds, records of distribution of proceeds of crime among them, photographs doing forgery, evidence of giving bribe to Government officials etc, were seized.
Meanwhile, state BJP Chief Babulal Marandi has termed Soren as the most corrupt Chief Minister in independent India, who has been summoned twice by the ED.