ED arrests four people in connection with land scam linked to Soren

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has arrested four more people, including a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, in connection with the ongoing money laundering probe involving former chief minister Hemant Soren, people aware of the development said on Wednesday.
A civil court lawyer aware of the development said those produced included JMM leader Antu Tirkey, Priyaranjan Sahay, Vipin Singh, and Irshad Akhtar.
“The accused were arrested on Tuesday night. It was a holiday today (Wednesday). Therefore, all four were produced at the residence of PMLA court special judge Rajeev Ranjan. After they were produced before the special judge, they were forwarded to one-day judicial custody,” the court lawyer said.
“Tirkey (56) is a resident of Tetar Toli in Bariatu. Singh (35) is a resident of Satyendu Apartment, Tagore Hill Road, Morabadi, and Sahay (49) is a resident of Bank Colony, Kokar, and Akhtar (45) is a resident of Millat Colony, Bariatu,” the lawyer said.
Another lawyer said, “The ED prayed for a seven-day remand. The court will decide on ED’s prayer tomorrow.”
Officials close to the ED said the arrest came after evidence against them was found.
“ED first raided their residences. After getting strong evidence, four were arrested. Yesterday’s raid was conducted on the information of Mohammad Saddam Hussain, the mastermind of generating fake deeds. After the arrest of four, the number of persons arrested in matters involving them rose to eight. Earlier, four, including Soren, revenue department sub-inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Saddam, and Afsar, have been arrested,” an official close to ED said.
The development took place a day after Soren’s bail plea was heard in the PMLA court, and direction was given to ED to file a reply by April 23.
Another official close to ED said those arrested are part of a syndicate involved in the illegal dealing of tribal land.
“Investigation has revealed the preparation of a fake deed number 3985 of the year 1940, a copy of which was seized from the possession of Md. Saddam Hussain during searches on 13.04.2023. This deed has been made for a property of 6.34 acres spread over several plots of Khata no. 234, out of which plot no. 989 (84 decimals) and 996 (32 decimals) fall under the said 8.86 acres property, which is in illegal possession of Hemant Soren. The said 8.86 acres property, as well as the aforestated 6.34 acres properties, are Bhuinhari properties, non-saleable in nature, but the same are being acquired, sold, and possessed in an illegal and concealed manner by the above-stated accused besides those already arrested and prosecution complaint has already been submitted against them,” the second official said.
A third official added, “During the scrutiny of diaries seized from the possession of Md. Saddam Hussain, it was revealed that Antu Tirkey was involved in the fraudulent sale/purchase of land under the above-mentioned Khata no. 234. The scrutiny of the diary has also revealed huge cash dealings between Md. Saddam Hussain and the said Antu Tirkey in relation to the land of Khata no. 234 and others. Pages of diaries showing cash dealings between Md. Saddam Hussain and Antu Tirkey have been recovered during the raid.”
“The accused persons namely Md. Saddam Hussain, Afshar Ali, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Priya Ranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh, Irshad Akhtar, Bipin Singh, and others are also involved in the preparation of fake deed No 3954 of the year 1974 and 2376 of 1940 in relation to the property admeasuring 4.83 acres at Gari Mauza, Ranchi. It is stated that the above-mentioned land measuring 4.83 acres is a portion of 37.10 acres of land of Khata no. 53, Mouza Gari, Ranchi. The accused, Bipin Singh and Priya Ranjan Sahay, are also involved in the forgeries of government records in association with Afshar Ali, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Shekhar Kushwaha @ Mahto and others in tempering the original Panji II registers to acquire the said 4.83 acres of land. Md. Irshad Akhtar was instrumental in arranging blank sheets of original registers kept at the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata for preparation of fake deeds,” the third official said.
Meanwhile, Investigation has also revealed that Irshad Akhtar brought blank sheets from the original registers in which fake deeds were prepared in respect of the above 4.83 acres of property and the said were planted in records through him.
“He also brought original volumes from the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata, at Hotel Peerless Inn, where the registers were tampered with by Afshar Ali and Md. Saddam Hussain. After tampering, the said information was given to Priya Ranjan Sahay over WhatsApp,” the above-cited official said.