Three more arrested in alleged land-grabbing case involving Hemant Soren

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that a ‘racket of land mafia’ active in Jharkhand was involved in tampering with official records in Ranchi and Kolkata.

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has arrested three more persons in an alleged land-grabbing case involving former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The three persons – Sanjeet Kumar, Mohammed Irshad and Tapas Ghosh – were arrested on May 9 “for their role in forgery, tampering and fabrication of land records”, the agency said. With this, 25 persons, including Soren, have been arrested in the case so far.

The Enforcement Directorate said that Kumar and Ghosh were contractual employees with the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata. It alleged that land records maintained at Kolkata were found to have been forged and tampered with.

Some of the land acquired through such forgery was under Soren’s illegal possession, the agency claimed.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, a “racket of land mafia” active in Jharkhand was involved in tampering with official records in Ranchi and Kolkata. The prime accused in the case is Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a former Jharkhand revenue department official and custodian of government records.

The agency alleged that Soren acquired land located at Baragain Anchal at Bariyatu Road in Ranchi through illegal means. The agency also accused the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader of misusing his power and concealing evidence in the case after he was issued the first summons for questioning on August 7.

The former chief minister denied the Enforcement Directorate’s allegations, claiming that he has no link to the property and no relation with Prasad.