In one of the land scam cases being investigated under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Ranchi, has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against Hemant Soren and four other individuals for obtaining, possessing, and concealing the proceeds of crime in the form of immovable property measuring 8.8 acres at Bariyatu, Ranchi. In the Complaint, four additional individuals—Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Binod Singh, Hilarious Kachhap, and Raj Kumar Pahan—have also been charged with assisting and abetting Hemant Soren in his illegitimate purchase and ownership of the aforementioned property.
On April 4, 2024, the Honorable PMLA Court in Ranchi granted cognizance of the aforementioned prosecution complaint. The ED has also temporarily attached the aforementioned property, which is valued at Rs. 31 Crore.
Based on many FIRs against various individuals, including government officials, filed by Jharkhand Police, the ED began looking into money laundering in cases of land scams.
An investigation into land scam cases by the Enforcement Department revealed that one of the accused, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a Revenue Official and the keeper of original government records, abused his official position by assisting a number of people, including Hemant Soren, with their illegal occupation, acquisition, and/or possession of proceeds of crime in the form of landed properties.
According to an ED probe, there is a land mafia organization operating in Jharkhand that used to falsify Ranchi land documents. It is also disclosed that land ownership documents have been falsified in order to benefit the aforementioned land mafia. These land parcels are then sold to other people using falsified land documents as the foundation. Original land documents that prove ownership are either falsified or kept hidden to make it easier for illegal people to obtain, own, and exploit these properties.
In these instances, the ED had previously conducted 51 searches and 9 surveys, and damning material such as fake land titles, forged seals of the Land Revenue Department, records of the distribution of proceeds of crime, photos of forgeries, proof of bribery of government officials, etc. were seized. Following searches, around Rs. 1.25 crore worth of cash was found and seized, while the balances of 3.56 crore worth of bank accounts were also frozen. Hemant Soren uses and controls a location in Delhi. During one of the searches there, papers implicating him, a BMW luxury automobile, and cash totalling Rs. 36.34 lakh were found.
In land fraud cases, the ED has already temporarily attached contaminated land parcels valued at Rs. 236 crores. In these instances, 16 accused individuals have been detained thus far, including Hemant Soren, Chhavi Ranjan, IAS (Ex-DC, Ranchi), Bhanu Pratap Prasad (Revenue Sub-Inspector), Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Prem Prakash. Prosecution complaints in land fraud instances were previously filed by ED on June 12, 2023, and September 1, 2023. Additional research is currently being conducted.
