The Enforcement Directorate has accused former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of illegally acquiring land worth more than INR 31 Crores. In support of their claim, the ED has presented bills for a refrigerator and a smart TV as evidence in court. The agency obtained these receipts from two dealers in Ranchi and annexed them to the charge sheet filed against the JMM leader and four others last month. Judge Rajeev Ranjan of the Special PMLA Court in Ranchi took cognizance of the ED's complaint on April 4th.
Immediately following his resignation from the position of Chief Minister, Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in connection with a money laundering case related to the alleged land scam. He is currently in judicial custody at Birsa Munda Jail in Hotwar, Ranchi. According to the ED, the aforementioned gadgets were purchased in the name of family members of Santosh Munda, who informed the agency that they had been caretakers of the property (8.86 acres) on behalf of Hemant Soren for 14-15 years. The agency used Santosh Munda's statement to refute Hemant Soren's claim that he had no connection with the said land.
Rajkumar Pahan was a façade for Hemant Soren: ED
The ED also dismissed the claims made by an individual named Rajkumar Pahan on the land parcel. The agency alleged that Pahan was merely a 'facade' used by Hemant Soren to maintain control over the property. According to the ED, soon after Soren was summoned in this case in August last year, Rajkumar Pahan wrote to the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi stating that he, along with certain other individuals, legally owned the land. Pahan asked the Deputy Commissioner to cancel the earlier mutation that was in the name of other owners to prevent them from being unlawfully evicted from their land.
ED claims Hemant Soren controlled the land undisturbed
The state government had 'restored' the land to Rajkumar Pahan on January 29, two days before Hemant Soren's arrest, in order to maintain Soren's uninterrupted control and possession, the ED alleges. The agency claims that the land was originally 'Bhuiyan' property, which in ordinary circumstances could not be transferred or sold, and that 'Munda' and 'Pahan' were set up as owners of such land. The ED further claims that the original owners had sold the land to some individuals, but Hemant Soren evicted these purchasers and secured control of the land during 2010-11.
The Munda family maintained Soren's property: ED
Santosh Munda also informed the ED that Soren and his wife Kalpana visited the land 'two or three times' and that he had worked as a labourer during the construction of a boundary wall on the plot. The agency contends that Munda was put in charge of overseeing the property on Soren’s instructions and that another accused, Hilarius Kachchap, had installed an electricity meter there. It was revealed that a refrigerator was purchased in February 2017 at the Ranchi address where the land is located, under the name of Santosh Munda's son, and a smart TV was purchased under the name of his daughter in November 2022.
As a result, the ED establishes Munda family's residence on the property
Thus, it is 'established', the ED says, that Santosh Munda and his family were residing on the property and it was not in the possession of defendant Rajkumar Pahan. The central agency argued that Rajkumar Pahan was acting as a façade for Hemant Soren so the property could somehow be shown to be in the possession of Pahan and his family members, thereby thwarting evidence against Soren and hiding the proceeds of the crime. The ED has listed these two bills as evidence in their charge sheet and attached them as 'reliable documents'. The agency has requested the special court to prosecute Hemant Soren and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED seizes 8.86 acres of land on March 30th
In a comprehensive charge sheet spanning 191 pages, the ED named Hemant Soren, Rajkumar Pahan, Hilarius Kachchap, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and Binod Singh as accused. The agency also seized a land parcel on March 30th, valued at more than INR 31.07 Crores. The central agency stumbled upon the mentioned land fraud while investigating a 4.55-acre land scandal in Morhabadi, Ranchi, belonging to the Ministry of Defence last year. According to the ED, their investigation revealed that a group of private individuals had grabbed 8.86 acres of land through collusion of government officers, including former DC Ranchi Chhavi Ranjan and Bhanu Pratap Prasad (Inspector of Revenue Department, Jharkhand government), by committing fraud in the documents.
