SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, June 13: The Special Court (PMLA) today took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the ED against 10 persons accused in the land scam and money laundering case linked to former CM Hemant Soren.
Paving the way for beginning the trial in the case, the court has fixed June 27 as the date for the hearing.
Who are the 10 syndicate members?
The accused against whom the ED has filed the chargesheet on June 7 include JMM leader Antu Tirkey, Revenue Department employee Manoj Kumar Yadav, two employees of Kolkata’s Registrar of Assurance Tapas Ghosh, Sanjit Kumar, deed writer Mohammad Irshad in Hazaribagh court, besides Priya Ranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh, Irshad Akhtar, Afsar Ali alias Afsu Khan and Saddam Hussain.
The ED has stated in its 143-page chargesheet that fake documents were prepared for two plots of 8.86 acres of land in the illegal possession of Hemant Soren in Bargain. This has also been confirmed in the forensic report, it added.
Registrar of Assurance, Kolkata
Apart from this, Afsar Khan, Priyaranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh and other accused collected documents with the help of Tapas Ghosh and Sanjit Kumar, employees of Registrar of Assurance, Kolkata. After this, with the help of Hazaribagh’s deed writer Mohammad Irshad, they prepared fake documents and hatched a conspiracy to grab 4.83 acres of land situated at Cheshire Home Road.
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“These persons are actually and knowingly involved in the process and activity connected with the proceeds of crime in a concealed manner and projecting them as untainted property, and as such they are guilty of the offence of money laundering,” the ED said.
Habitual offenders
The ED has stated that these 10 accused persons are habitual offenders.
“Their involvement has surfaced in several other cases of the land scam. They have indulged in the preparation of fake deeds, and falsification of original government records to acquire property deceitfully,” it stated.
“Besides, they have acquired huge proceeds of crime but have mostly dealt in cash to conceal the proceeds of crime. Several property deeds seized from their possession have been identified as fake and an FIR no. 196/2023 has been lodged at the Hare Street Police Station based on a complaint forwarded by the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata,” it said.
They are part of an organized syndicate which is purposely involved in illegal land-related activities and is backed by influential persons and certain government officials.
The ED investigation has established that the above-stated 10 accused persons are involved in the illegal acquisition of Proceeds of crime in the form of landed properties. The processes and activities related to the acquisition of this property have led to the commission of the offence of money laundering defined under Section 3 of PMLA, 2002.
