THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, July 29: The Ranchi PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) special court on Monday allowed the custodial interrogation of journalist-turned-land dealer Kamlesh Kumar for five days to take the lid off the land scam.
The scam is billed to be the biggest land fraud in Ranchi in the recent past.
During the hearing, the special public prosecutor requested the court to give 10 days’ remand to question Kamlesh. However, the court granted permission to the ED to take Kamlesh on remand for five days and question him.
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Notably, the ED arrested Kamlesh on July 26 and produced him in the PMLA court a day after. The court sent him into judicial custody and took a call on the ED’s remand petition on Monday.
Kamlesh is part of the ‘biggest land scam’
ED sources said that Kamlesh could be a part of the ‘biggest land scam’ in Ranchi. “He enjoyed the patronage of several bigwigs, who have got land through him in Chama, a region within the Kanke area,” sources added.
The ED’s contention of it being the biggest land scam is based on the fact that the Kanke Circle Officer Jai Kumar Ram deleted online Jamabandi/records of at least 140 acres in a single alone when the central agency was conducting raids at various locations of journalist-turned-land dealer Kamlesh Kumar on June 21 last.
“These landed properties fall under Kanke Mouza and have an area of more than 140 acres. These entries were created/inserted illegally and in an unauthorized manner by the Circle officer, Kanke in connivance with Kamlesh Kumar and others,” the agency said in its petition seeking custodial interrogation of Kamlesh for 10 days.
The ED so far has not made it public whose name was illegally entered in these 20 land records.
Modus operandi
The scam involves the illegal acquisition and sale of government, tribal and private lands. It is alleged that a nexus of government officials, middlemen, and real estate developers have been manipulating land records to facilitate these illegal transactions for the last six to seven years.
“A comprehensive review of mutation of all the land sale deeds by the Kanke Circle office during the last six/seven years could take the lid off the scam,” pointed out a senior officer.
ED to probe the role of other beneficiaries too
The ED, during interrogation, will identify the role of Kamlesh Kumar as well as his accomplices in acquiring landed properties. The ED will also investigate the role of other beneficiaries, including government officials who abused their position and acquired the land through Kamlesh by committing illegalities in the acquisition of land and other criminal activities.
