After Jharkhand Mining Scam, Double Whammy for CM Hemant Soren as ED Unearths Land Deals | Exclusive

An investigation into the forgery of 100-year-old land documents, and subsequent transactions surrounding it have blown the lid off a multi-crore rupee scam in Jharkhand allegedly involving chief minister Hemant Soren.

This has become the latest flashpoint between the Narendra Modi government and Soren’s following the arrest of IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan of 2011 batch Jharkhand cadre in May for the alleged land scam that includes at least 35 land properties allegedly in possession of Soren, top sources in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told News 18.

Besides, the ED is investigating a stone mining scam for alleged involvement of Soren and his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party members. One of his MLAs has been arrested in connection with the case.

Over the last six months, Soren has been summoned by the ED four times in connection with the alleged land and stone mining scams. Soren has appeared in one, while he skipped the remaining and filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court seeking a stay in the investigations.

The ruling JMM, however, has called the investigations, the related raids and summons as a ploy of the Modi government to “heckle and harass the Opposition leaders” before the crucial meeting of I.N.D.I.A coalition, scheduled on August 31 and September 1 in Mumbai.

Soren’s party and his lawyers both dismissed ED’s summons and the allegations as “mala fide”, “harassment” and “politically motivated”.

Writ petition against ED probe

The writ petition requesting stay in the ED probe has been filed by Soren’s advocate Shweta Singh Parihar in the SC. News18 reached out to her, who said, the writ petition has been filed, but the “details cannot be divulged at this point”.

Jharkhand government’s advocate general (AG) Rajiv Ranjan told News18 that the cases and charges filed by the ED against Soren are “baseless and devoid of merit. They are calling the chief minister of a state repeatedly, which is against the federal structure. This is not correct”.

On the fresh summons and the case in connection with the land scam, Ranjan commented, “They are unnecessarily harassing the chief minister. We have already moved the Supreme Court and filed a writ petition. In the petition, we have mentioned that the actions by the central agency are not legal. There is no evidence against him. The summons are being issued against him with mala fide intentions.”

Meanwhile, Supriyo Bhattacharya, general secretary of JMM central committee, told News18, that the cases the central government is indulging in are “all politically motivated”. “We have moved the Supreme Court, filed a writ petition seeking redressal in such cases. We will wait for the court verdict”.

Double Trouble for Soren

Soren seems to be facing a double whammy as the ED, which is investigating the stone mining case, has now found evidence allegedly involving him in another fraud on land deeds.

Ranjan was allegedly part of a cartel that forged the 93-year-old land deeds. The land documents of 1931 were forged by a group of senior bureaucrats, local businessmen and land dealers.

“The plots in Ranchi were owned by defence, and the government used to get revenue from the land. The land was registered in Kolkata as it used to be the central registry office before Independence,” said a senior ED officer.

“The cartel forged the land documents, address of the registry office, mentioned West Bengal and a PIN code. However, West Bengal came into existence in 1947 and the PIN Code (system) was introduced in 1972. They forged the land deeds on an individual’s name and put these details which led to unearthing of the scam,” he added.

While probing the land scam, the investigators found other land properties, documents of which were also forged and are allegedly in possession of the state chief minister, he further said.

A source in ED said the West Bengal government has also started a case in connection with the forged land deeds. However, the FIR has been lodged against “unknown” persons.

In the stone mining case, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) wrote letters to the Jharkhand government informing them about illegal stone mining in Sahebganj area. The state police lodged around 150 FIRs regarding the transportation from the illegal mines, said a senior ED officer.

“We clubbed around 150 FIRs lodged by the state police, and several complaints that came from NGT. The stone mines are illegal. We lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) into the mining scam and the money laundering aspect of it. The CM has been summoned in connection with this case too. He appeared only once,” added another senior officer of the ED.