RANCHI: In yet another jolt to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested party leader Antu Tirkey and three others in a money laundering case linked to a land scam. Tirkey was arrested late in the night after being taken to ED’s zonal office in Ranchi for questioning following several hours of raids conducted at his residence in Ranchi.
According to sources, the raids were conducted after interrogating land broker Mohammad Saddam, who has been arrested by the ED in a land scam case and is currently in ED's custody. Former JMM National Committee member Antu Tirkey left the party in 2019 after being denied a ticket by the JMM from the Khijri Assembly seat and joined the JVM (P), but returned to the JMM fold in 2022.
Notably, former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and several others including Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agarwal, Dilip Ghosh, former Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi Chhavi Ranjan, Revenue Sub Inspector of Bargain Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Pradeep Bagchi, land brokers Afsar Ali, Imtiaz Khan, Talha Khan have already been arrested by ED in the land scam case. Tirkey was arrested merely 2.5 months after the arrest of Hemant Soren on January 31 this year.
Earlier, ED conducted raids at 9 locations including that of the residence of Antu Tirkey, Priyaranjan Sahay, real estate trader Vipin Singh, and Irshad in Tupudana, Bariatu, Morhabadi and Pandara areas of Ranchi. Later, the ED arrested all four of them late in the night on Tuesday. Sources claimed that Congress leader Sahay, who resides in the Kokar area of Ranchi, arranged forged documents from the Kolkata Registry office and sold valuable land plots to who’s who in the State.
Another accused Afshar Ali, allegedly involved in forging documents to usurp large tracts of land in Jharkhand, was arrested earlier on Tuesday. Ali is also said to be involved in the alleged land scam with Hemant Soren and former state Revenue Department Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad.
The ED on March 30 filed a charge sheet against Hemant Soren and Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and two others in the case and sought to confiscate the 8.86-acre land that was allegedly acquired through forgery.