Breaking: ED raids Jharkhand bizman, whose photo with Nirmala Sitharaman went viral

THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK

Ranchi, May 15: Days after businessman and land scam accused Bishnu Agarwal managed a click with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the ED today raided Nucleus Mall owned by him.

An ED source said that the raid is continuing at the mall in connection with the land scam. The ED team, during searches, examined the papers of the land where the mall has been constructed.

What was the controversy?

A political controversy erupted a week back today after Bishnu Agarwal, who is being probed by the ED for land fraud, got a photo clicked with Nirmala Sitharaman at an election meeting here.

BJP state chief Babulal Marandi was also present on the occasion.

Soon thereafter, the JMM and the Congress went to the town alleging that the BJP had struck a deal with the businessman.

Sitharaman, later, in an interview with a newspaper, had clarified that the photo click wont affect the ongoing probe against the businessman.

The programme was organised by the Chamber of Commerce at Hotel Radisson Blu, in which Sitharaman was the chief guest.

ED arrested Agarwal on July 19 2023 

Agarwal, the owner of the swanky Nucleus Mall, was arrested by the ED in connection with the case on July 19 last year for the alleged fraudulent sale of a one-acre plot in the upscale Cheshire Home Road area in Ranchi. The Jharkhand High Court granted him bail in January this year.

The ED has provisionally attached three land parcels worth ₹161.64 crore in Ranchi owned by Bishnu Agrawal as part of its probe into the alleged land scam in Jharkhand.

The three land parcels are situated at Cheshire Home Road, Pugru, and Siramtoli in the state capital.

According to the ED, “besides, the Cheshire Home Road property and a 9.3-acre plot at Namkum, Agarwal, in connivance with the then Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan and others, also bought a 5.83-acre plot in Ranchi, “which has been in the possession of the Indian Army since 1949.”

These land parcels have been mutated fraudulently in favour of land mafias in connivance with the officers of the land revenue department. The ED initiated an investigation into three land scam cases based on multiple FIRs registered by the Jharkhand Police and West Bengal Police against Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Agarwal, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).