In the Ranchi Land Scam case, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has temporarily attached three land lots totalling Rs 161.64 crore (commercial value) that are located at Cheshire Home Road, Pugru, and Siram. These land parcels have been fraudulently altered in the favour of land mafias with the help of Land Revenue Department personnel.
On the basis of many FIRs filed by the Jharkhand Police and the West Bengal Police under different IPC sections against Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and others, the ED has opened an inquiry into three instances involving land scams.
An ED probe found that there is a significant mafia ring in Jharkhand that involves the illicit transfer of land ownership. These criminal elements were responsible for falsifying legacy documents in Ranchi and Kolkata. It is also revealed that dishonest government officials faked land ownership records in order to curry favour with the aforementioned land mafia. These land plots are thereafter sold to other people using falsified land records.
Earlier investigations by the ED into this matter included 41 searches and 5 surveys, during which time various incriminating items were seized, including forged Land Revenue Department seals, forged land deeds, records of the distribution of proceeds of crime, photographs of forgery, and proofs of paying bribes to government officials.
In a previous land fraud case, the ED had already placed three land parcels totalling Rs. 74.39 Crore (Commercial Value) under provisional attachment. The total attachment in instances involving land scams now stands at Rs 236 Crore. To date, 14 accused namely Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali, Saddaam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Talha Khan, Faiyaaz Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Chhavi Ranjan, IAS (Ex DC Ranchi), Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Amit Kumar Agarwal, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Rajesh Rai, Bharat Prasad and Prem Prakash have been arrested and are presently in Judicial custody.
On June 12, 2023, a Prosecution Complaint was first submitted. The ED has submitted a new Prosecution Complaint in the matter of the land fraud as of today, or 01.09.2023. Further research is now being conducted.
