A dozen land parcels in Ranchi measuring about 8.5 acres in total are in "illegal possession, occupation and use" of arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and are proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law, the Enforcement Directorate has claimed.
Soon after he resigned as chief minister, Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on Wednesday night. The agency had questioned him for over seven hours during the day.
The criminal case filed by the federal agency against the 48-year-JMM leader emerges from a June 2023 ECIR (ED term for FIR) following raids conducted against state government employee and revenue department Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad at various locations in the state.
The agency, as per official records, recovered 11 trunks holding voluminous property documents from Prasad's premises along with 17 original registers. Bhanu Prasad was a custodian of many original registers of land records and their ownership details of the state, the ED claimed.
It alleged that Bhanu Prasad was "involved in the corrupt practices which included falsification of original records and had been a party with several other persons in their activities linked to the acquisition of landed properties in a fraudulent manner".
The ED shared this information with the Jharkhand government which registered a police FIR against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi on June 1, 2023. The central agency took cognisance of this FIR to file its ECIR on June 26, 2023.
Bhanu Prasad, the ED claimed, 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 Shri Hemant Hemant Soren." These details were also recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad, it said.
According to official documents, Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED at 10 pm on Wednesday from the Governor House.
During his personal search, the former chief minister "refused to remove" a religious locket and ring he was wearing.
The agency, explaining the grounds of arrest, said it recorded statements of several persons under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and this exercise "established" that 12 landed properties, situated next to each other, and measuring 8.5 acres in total, were under "illegal acquisition, possession and use of Hemant Soren and this has been kept concealed by him (Soren)".
It said a survey was conducted on these land plots that "established that the land is in illegal possession, occupation and use of Hemant Soren." Hemant Soren, on his part, contended that the said land fell under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and it "cannot be transferred" and the special regulation officer in Ranchi had restored the possession of the land back to its original owner on January 29.
He also asserted that documents recovered from someone's phone cannot be taken as "gospel truth" to implicate and arrest him.
The JMM leader also filed a plea before the Supreme Court in Delhi on Thursday challenging his arrest from the "precinct of Governor House at 10 pm." The ED said it searched the residential premises of Hemant Soren in Delhi and seized Rs 36,34,500 cash from the cupboard of a room "under the use and occupation of Hemant Soren".
The agency claimed to also have seized some documents linked to this investigation from the house.
It said the 8.5-acre asset was a "proceeds of crime" which was in "unauthorised and illegal possession and use" of Hemant Soren.
Hemant Soren, it said, "knowingly was a party along with Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others in the activities connected with concealment of original records for projecting the property acquired by him in an illegal manner as an untainted property." It added Hemant Soren was "still enjoying" the said proceeds of crime and hence was "guilty of the offence of money laundering as per section 3 of PMLA".
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