According to official sources, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested two additional people on Wednesday night in connection with its money-laundering probe into alleged unlawful land dealings in the state. Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal and his father-in-law Dilip Ghosh were arrested under the terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In the previous instance, the federal government detained eight persons, including 2011-batch Jharkhand-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan. The newest arrest brings the total number of people arrested in the case to 11. Agrawal had already been arrested by the ED in connection with a separate money-laundering investigation.
The two apprehended suspects are likely to appear in court on Thursday, where the agency would demand their remand for custodial interrogation, according to source. The agency is probing into more than a dozen land deals, including one involving defence land, in which a gang, including land mafia, brokers, and bureaucrats, reportedly “connived” in altering deeds and paperwork as early as 1932.
According to the reports, land of the impoverished and oppressed was “usurped” as part of this “fraud.” The federal agency began its probe under the PMLA by taking cognizance of a police FIR of fabrication of several personal identifying documents registered by local officials in Ranchi.
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