ED raids in Ranchi recover Rs 1 crore cash, 100 bullets in land grab case

The Enforcement Directorate has seized Rs 1 crore in cash and 100 live bullet rounds following raids in Ranchi as part of an alleged land grab-linked money laundering investigation against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and others, officials said Saturday.

The seizure was made on Friday evening from the Kanke road premise of a person identified as Kamlesh Singh.

The raids were being carried out in the alleged land grab case against former CM and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren but pertains to a different land plot, according to sources.

The federal agency has also registered a police case under the Arms Act in connection with the seizure of the live ammunition, they said.

More than 25 persons including Soren, IAS officer and former Ranchi deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others have been arrested by the ED as part of the investigation into the case.

Land parcels worth Rs 266 crore, including a clutch of plots spread across 8.86 acres in the Bargain area of Ranchi allegedly acquired illegally by Soren in Ranchi, have been attached by the agency till now and four chargesheets have been filed by it till now.

Soren, 48, has strongly denied land grabbing charges saying the money laundering case was foisted against him by the BJP-led central government as part of a political vendetta.

He was arrested by the ED on January 31 from the Ranchi Raj Bhavan minutes after he resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister.