Land deal scam: A special PMLA court in Ranchi on Saturday remanded six-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody to Jharkhand IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, who was arrested in connection with its probe into alleged "illegal" land deals. According to an official, the ED had sought 10-day custody to interrogate the former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner.
He was arrested late on Thursday night (May 4) and taken into ED custody after he was interrogated for around 10 hours. A day later the IAS officer was sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail.
What IAS officer's lawyer said?
Meanwhile, Ranjan's lawyer Abhishek Krishna Gupta said the court remanded the 2011-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre to six days of ED custody, and he will again be produced on May 12.
The investigating officer of the case recorded a statement of Ranjan under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Earlier on April 24, the ED also questioned him for around 10 hours in connection with its money laundering probe into the alleged illegal land deals.
Ranjan was briefly questioned by the agency on April 13 as well, when searches were carried out at his premises and those of some others in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The ED had earlier arrested seven people, including a Jharkhand government officer, after the raids.
Jharkhand govt suspends Ranjan
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government also suspended Ranjan on Saturday. "Chhavi Ranjan, Director, Social Welfare, Jharkhand is suspended with immediate effect after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate, regional office under section 19 of the PMLA Act, 2002," a notification issued by the state government said on Saturday evening.
Over a dozen land deals under investigation
The central agency is investigating more than a dozen land deals, including one pertaining to defence land, wherein a group of mafias, middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly "connived" in forging deeds and documents from as early as 1932.
Land parcels of the poor and the downtrodden were 'usurped' as part of this fraud, sources had said. This is the second case in which a Jharkhand cadre IAS officer has come under the scanner of the ED.
ALSO READ: Land deal scam: ED arrests Jharkhand IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan after day-long grilling
Last year, the central agency arrested 2000-batch IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged embezzlement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in Khunti and other suspicious financial transactions.
(With PTI inputs)
