Jharkhand Land Scam Case

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jharkhand is witnessing the peak of political drama ensued upon the arrest of former chief minister Hemant Soren barely a few hours after he resigned the position of Chief Minister.
• Hemant Soren is the former chief minister of Jharkhand and functioning leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
• Several others were also booked in the alleged land scam case including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan

INTRODUCTION

The enforcement directorate has claimed that a dozen land parcels of an estimation of 8.5 acres in total are in illegal possession, occupation, and use of the former Chief minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren, who was arrested on 31^st January 2024 for a major land scam case with relation to such illegal possession and occupation of land. The ED said that such land parcels are the proceeds of crime conducted under the anti money laundering act. The ED is exploring in more than a dozen land bargains, including one connected with protection of land, wherein a gathering of land mafia, brokers and civil servants purportedly schemed to manufacture fake deeds and records of as long back as 1932.

Soren ends up entangled in a complicated snare of supposed land scams. The argument against Soren rotates around his implied contribution in a broad land scam in Jharkhand, where he is asserted to be the critical recipient of unlawfully obtained land through false means, as per the Enforcement Directorate. Enforcement directorate’s investigation focuses to a refined operation including an organization of merchants. middlemen and businessmen who controls land records to make fake deeds - authoritative reports that move responsibility for or land starting with one party then onto the next - for valuable pieces of land. These forged archives are then used to offer off the land to different people and organizations, prompting significant monetary benefits for the culprits.

Who is Hemant Soren?

Hemant Soren, born on 10th August 1975, is an Indian legislator from Jharkhand, who filled in as the fifth Chief minister of Jharkhand from 2019 to 2024 and from 2013 to 2014.He is likewise the functioning leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, an ideological group in Jharkhand. He addresses Barhait constituency in the Jharkhand legislative assembly starting around 2014 and from Dumka from 2019 to 2020 and from 2009 to 2014. He was also the Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand from 2010 to 2013, leader of the opposition, Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from 2014 to 2019 and member of Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand from 2009 to 2010.

He was confirmed as the Chief minister of Jharkhand on 15th of July 2013 with support from Congress and RJD after President's rule was eliminated from the state. He was again chosen as the chief minister of Jharkhand in December 2019, and sworn in on 29 December.

Corruption in India

Corruption in India is an issue which influences economy of focal, state, and neighbourhood government organizations. Corruption is faulted for hindering the economy of India. The reasons for corruption in India incorporate unreasonable guidelines, confounded charges and licensing systems, various government divisions with hazy organization and optional powers, imposing business model of government controlled establishments on specific labour and products conveyance, and the absence of direct regulations and cycles.

There are huge varieties in the degree of corruption and in the public authority's endeavours to diminish corruption across India. Corruption in India is an issue that has serious ramifications for safeguarding law and order and guaranteeing access to justice.

The ED is exploring in more than a dozen land bargains, including one connected with protection of land, wherein a gathering of land mafia, brokers and civil servants purportedly schemed to manufacture deeds and records of as long back as 1932.

LAND SCAMS IN INDIA

Property is quite possibly one of the most significant purchases anybody makes in their life. In the ongoing framework, individuals buy property for venture purposes for a protected future. One of the most outstanding choices for ventures is property which gives the best yields over a significant stretch. Property market in India has blast throughout the past ten years and a half. Be that as it may, without any guidelines set up, property extortion has likewise expanded at a similar rate.

Land scams among politicians has been increasing in cities across India since urban land is at a higher cost than expected and a great wellspring of money for ideological groups and their chiefs. Up till the '60s, industrialists supported ideological groups. During Crisis, somebody understood there were galactic payoffs in protection contracts. Yet, the chief ministers can't approach these assets so they turn up to ways in which heavy monetary benefits can be gained, one of them being illegally obtaining land by abusing their power.

What is an enforcement directorate?

The Directorate of enforcement is a multi-disciplinary association ordered with examination of offense of money laundering and infringement of foreign exchange regulations. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a law enforcement agency of the Central Government of India that is liable for upholding Monetary Regulations and battling Financial crimes. The Association is obliged with the undertaking of upholding the arrangements of two exceptional financial regulations - Foreign exchange management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and the Prevention of money laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).

The enforcement Directorate centres around researching and indicting cases connected with tax evasion, unfamiliar trade infringement, Co corruption and financial offenses. Its essential goal is to control the age and flow of black money. The Directorate is responsible for implementing various regulations. The Directorate has quasi-judicial abilities under FEMA to explore affirmed infringement of the exchange Control Regulations and Guidelines, as well as the power to force fines on people viewed as guilty. The Officials of the Directorate are approved under the PMLA to embrace requests to find, temporarily connect/take resources obtained from Booked Offenses, as well as capturing and arraigning the Tax criminals.

It is made out of officials from the Indian revenue service, Indian Police Administration, and the Indian administrative service as well as advanced officials from its own framework. It also directly recruits individuals, the Directorate additionally draws officials from various investigating Organizations, like the Customs and central excise, income tax, Police, and so on. The all-out strength of the division is under 2000 officials out of which around 70% of authorities came from delegation from different associations while ED has its own framework, as well.

THE CASE

Hemant Soren, who was purportedly "missing", however reemerged in Ranchi late on 31st January, arriving at his Kanke Street home at around 1:50 p.m. The ED had been keeping watch for him in Delhi since 30th January morning. They looked for him at a few spots including his Delhi home and Jharkhand Bhawan yet was not able to track him down.

The investigation relates to an enormous racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia in Jharkhand, as per the organization. The matter is connected with the purchase and sale of land involved by the military. Army land was traded in Jharkhand based on a phony name and address. Ranchi municipal corporation had held up an FIR in this matter. ED had begun the examination by enlisting the enforcement Case information Report (ECIR) based on the same FIR.

The Enforcement Directorate has recorded a charge sheet enumerating the false obtaining of prime land parcels, defence land, estimated at over ₹74 crore in current market costs. The modus operandi included assembling back-dated deeds, making of bogus records, and utilizing counterfeit stamps and seals to make it seem like authentic exchanges. The Enforcement Directorate's investigation has uncovered an example of unlawful exchanges and land acquisitions, ensnaring Soren as a central member in the supposed scam.

ED summoned Soren multiple times in the supposed land fraud case yet he overlooked every one of them giving some reason for not showing up before the central organization. The Jharkhand High Court dismissed his request challenging the summons against him by the ED in the supposed land fraud case. ED had previously given a request to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's press counsellor, Abhishek Prasad to join its investigation on January 16 into a supposed money laundering test connected to an unlawful mining case.

As it turns out, Soren moved to Jharkhand High Court after the supreme Court refused to engage his petition guiding him to move toward the High Court as opposed to coming directly to the supreme court. Soren had moved toward the High Court challenging the summons issued by ED saying that it is off base for the ED to call him in the supposed land scam, yet the supreme Court refused to engage on his petition.

The ED case of alleged scam against Soren originates from June 2023 strikes against Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a sub-inspector in the revenue division in the state, who supposedly worked alongside the land mafia.

One of the facts in the charge sheet is the offer of a 4.55-acres of defence land in Ranchi, which was supposedly procured through a phony deed arranged by one Afshar Ali and his assistants. The land was then offered to Jagat Bandhu Tea Bequests Pvt Ltd, an organization claimed by Amit Agarwal, for a portion of its genuine worth. Additionally, one more piece of land in Hehal was falsely gained, with original deeds being altered and sold off to clueless purchasers. The charge sheet likewise makes reference to cases where various people made a claim for the same property using forged records, further featuring the degree of the supposed scam.

The government organization made the claim while producing Soren before an extraordinary PMLA (Prevention of money laundering Act) court in Ranchi, which sent the JMM pioneer to judicial custody for a day even as ED seeked for his 10-day custody. Later on, he was sent to a five day custody by the high court.

Amit Kumar Agarwal is a Kolkata based businessman who was arrested by the enforcement directorate last year. He is suspected to be in a number of alleged frauds in handling funds for several politicians, including Hemant Soren as enumerated in a public interest litigation filed in Jharkhand high court.

Recorded proclamations of several people as well as a review done laid out that this property was in unlawful belonging and utilization of the previous CM, the organization claimed.

About the hunts at Soren's Delhi home on January 29, ED told the court it has recovered ₹36.34 lakh from the cabinet supposedly utilized by the JMM pioneer other than archives connected with the ongoing investigation.

The Enforcement Directorate stated that:

“Prasad (Bhanu Pratap prasad, who is earlier mentioned), was actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren.”

Further stating that, “The list of 12 properties which are adjacently situated and all-together make a very big property of an area of about 850 decimals (8.5 acres) have been recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad. Investigation has revealed that this property is and has been illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren, Hence, Soren is actively and knowingly involved in the process and activities connected with the acquisition, concealment, possession, and use of the proceeds of crime, and projecting the said proceeds of crime as untainted property.”

Therefore, such serious allegations pressurised Soren to give up his ministerial chair and to co-operate with the investigation. Soren was arrested not long after he resigned as the chief minister and following almost seven-hour questioning by ED detectives regarding the PMLA case connected to the supposed land scam in Jharkhand.

Additional solicitor general of India (ASGI) Anil Kumar, representing ED, prayed for the 10-day custody of the JMM pioneer. The court while sending Soren to one-day judicial custody its decision saved on the more extended custody prayer. About the said 8.5-section of land property, Soren, who was addressed by state's promoter general Rajeev Ranjan, satisfied the land fell under the Chota Nagpur tenancy act and it can't be moved and the extraordinary guideline official in Ranchi had reestablished the ownership of the land back to its unique proprietor on January 29.

The organization has claimed that Prasad was working with others, including businessman Amit Agarwal, arrested IAS official Chhavi Ranjan, and eight others — Dilip Kumar Ghosh (a helper of Agarwal), Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali (asserted person who created fake deeds on the alleged land parcels), Mohammad Saddam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmad, Talha Khan and Faiyaz Ahmed.

The ED's investigation into three separate cases of land extortion is based on various First information Reports documented by both Jharkhand Police and West Bengal Police against a few people, including Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, and Bhanu Pratap Prasad, among others.

RELATED CASE LAWS

Manesar land scam case

Gurugram-Manesar industrial Model township land grab scam case relates to the chargesheet recorded by the central bureau of investigation (CBI) against previous Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others for the Manesar Modern Model Municipality land obtaining scam. This scam brought about INR1500 crore (15 billion) misfortune to the ranchers of Manesar and adjoining town in Gurugram locale whose 688 acres of land was being procured at a low rate for "public purpose".

This land was subsequently authorized to land organizations in the wake of allowing them out of term favours and concessions. Confidential developers got 400 acres of land from ranchers at expendable cost in light of the danger of obtaining by the public authority.

DLF land grab case

DLF land grab case is a case connected with 50 acres of land grab in 2013 in Amipur town of Haryana during the Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, for which Robert Vadra, Hooda and DLF are being investigated by the CBI.

Vadra has purchased properties utilizing unsecured loans from DLF. After Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to control in Haryana, the "Justice Dhingra Commission" was framed in 2015 to investigate the scam. Dhingra Commission arraigned Hooda. Dhingra Commission's report expresses that there was arrangement pointed toward helping Vadra's organization Skylight hospitality, and it looked for additional inquiry. Subsequently, the case was given over to CBI for the further investigation.

Amravati Land scam

An advocate named Komalta Srinivasa Swamy Reddy recorded an FIR at the Anti-Corruption Bureau against Dammalapati Srinivas, a previous attorney general in Guntur in September 2020. As per the cases made by him, the previous AG and eleven others beguilingly purchased lands in Amaravati.

 He was in close association with the previous government then and utilized his position to acquire an understanding into the plans for the capital city. Insiders leaked information of the plans of the city to him. With the declaration of Amaravati as the new capital, costs of the land started to rise like anything. It prompted his avaricious nature, and he bought the lands in the name of unfortunate farmers. The FIR likewise recorded the contribution of daughters of a supreme court judge in this conspiracy.

Dhar land scam

This case includes the illicitly obtained land parcel having a place with the Madhya Pradesh Government and furthermore proceeds of crime produced by Sudhir Ratnakar Peter Das and others by additional offer of some portion of said Government land. The joined properties contain 56 immovable properties and 2 portable properties, which are for the sake of various people including the main brains of this scam, Sudhir Ratnakar Peter Das.

The subject government land was unlawfully alienated through a connivance incubated and executed by Sudhir Ratnakar Peter Das in conspiracy with several other people and religious foundations. It included deceitful procedures before income and legal authorities, decimating records, manipulation of records and so on in arrangement with private people as well as public authorities.

Guwahati land scam case

Two government officials were arrested by the crime Branch for their supposed contribution in Guwahati land scam. The two government Officials distinguished as Senior Sub-registrar Ranjit Choudhary and Sub-registrar Niharendra Thaosen are affirmed to be the brains behind Guwahati land records scam. The police group arrested Niharendra Thaosen from a Kolkata resort while Ranjit Choudhary from his home in Guwahati.

Amethi Rajiv Gandhi Trust land grab scam

In 1983 Uttar Pradesh State industrial development corporation had taken 65 acres of land from farmers to set up a production line by emperor Bike company in Kauhar town of Amethi. After organization failed to set up the production line, rather than returning the land to farmers according to the rules, it was given to the Rajiv Gandhi charitable trust disregarding the rules.

The trust was sued. On 26 August 2015, the local court requested the Rajiv Gandhi Trust to return the land to Uttar Pradesh State industrial development corporation. However, despite the request, the land is continued to be kept under the trust.

CONCLUSION

Following Hemant Soren's renunciation as chief minister and in the midst of the political turmoil in Jharkhand, Champai Soren, a head of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party, made vow as the chief minister of Jharkhand on Friday at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi. Along with Soren, Congress' Alamgir Alam and RJD's Satyanand Bhokta likewise made the vow as ministers in the Jharkhand cabinet.

Sources in Enforcement directorate said Soren's capture is purely depended on material and legal evidence accumulated over months for a while and statements of arrested, accused in the land scam case. While Soren was not referred in the first case filed by the ED in October 2022, in light of an FIR documented in Ranchi in June that year, almost certainly, he will be named as a culprit or will be found innocent once the ED finishes its enquiry. Soren had avoided seven summons issued by the ED before, saying that it is a political scheme to bring down his government. As per reports, Soren states that the ED authorities defamed his social standing by directing the search without prior warning and dispersing bogus data, which is illustrated in his protest.

In a sensational new development, Soren has held up a First information Report (FIR) against ED authorities under the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (prevention of atrocities, SC-ST) Act, blaming them for tarnishing his political as well as personal image.