Hemant Soren wanted to build banquet hall on illegal land, claims ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren wanted to utilise the "illegally possessed land" for the construction of a banquet hall, India Today reported on Monday. The ED arrested Soren on January 31 after a day-long questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. On Monday, a special PMLA court extended the ED remand of Hemant Soren by three days till February 15. 

In its remand application submitted in court, the central probe agency revealed WhatsApp chats between Hemant Soren and his close associate Binod Singh which it said were highly incriminating and contained details of several such "illegal properties".

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A detailed examination of the WhatsApp exchanges exposed a map outlining the proposed banquet hall, shared by Binod Singh with Hemant Soren on April 6, 2023, the agency said. Notably, the location specified in the plan corresponds to an 8.5-acre parcel of land currently under investigation for illegal acquisition, allegedly in Soren's possession.

Two days ago on February 10, the probe agency conducted a survey confirming the alignment between the proposed banquet site and the contested land. Officials present during the survey asserted that there was no other sizeable plot available in the vicinity suitable for such construction.

When India Today visited the said land, locals, speaking anonymously, acknowledged Soren's ownership, while a labourer involved in earlier boundary work claimed the land belonged to someone else. "We always knew this land belonged to Pahan. Last year, officers used to come for surveys. Enforcement Directorate officers once came and questioned my son about the land. We only recently got to know that the land belongs to Hemant Soren," one of the locals said.

The ED's probe revealed that Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a revenue sub-inspector, was part of a syndicate involved in acquiring properties forcefully and through false deeds. 

In February 2023, a survey at the Circle Office in Ranchi revealed falsification and tampering in the registers maintained by Bhanu Pratap Prasad. Later, a search resulted in the seizure of 11 trunks of property documents and 17 original registers.

Prasad, along with six members of the land-grabbing syndicate, was arrested in April 2023. The ED alleged that Prasad was actively involved in conspiracies to acquire properties illegally, including with Hemant Soren. 

They seized Prasad's mobile phone, revealing chats and information related to cash transactions, illegal benefits, and an image containing a list of properties, approximately 8.5 acres, linked to Soren. The survey conducted under section 16 of PMLA, 2002, confirmed the illegal possession of the property by Soren, the ED said. The seized registers, concealed by Prasad, indicated a pattern of acquiring and disposing of properties illegally.

The probe agency alleged that Soren knowingly indulged in the process connected with the acquisition, possession, and use of proceeds of crime.

(With inputs from Sreya Chatterjee)