New Delhi: Tension between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and police in West Bengal has spilled over to neighbouring Jharkhand. Going by multiple accounts, ED officers reached the zonal office in Ranchi Thursday morning only to find it encircled by police.
Sources in the agency said Ranchi police collected service details of the two ED officers and CCTV footage of the zonal office.
In an email the previous night, Jharkhand police had informed the agency about a case against two ED officers. The officers, including an assistant director, were booked on a complaint by a former government employee, who accused them of coercion and assault.
On Thursday, the accused ED officers moved Jharkhand High Court seeking quashing of the FIR. The matter has been listed for hearing on Friday. In the writ petition, the ED officers sought instructions to Ranchi police for registration of an FIR based on the complaint against Santosh Kumar as well as a stay on proceedings in the FIR filed against them.
The complainant in the case filed by Ranchi police, Santosh Kumar, is a former cashier-cum-upper divisional clerk (UDC) in Jharkhand’s Drinking Water and Sanitation Department.
Kumar was arrested by police in 2024 in connection with the alleged siphoning of nearly Rs 3 crore. The ED launched a money laundering probe in the case the same year.
Based on his complaint, Ranchi police Tuesday booked two ED officers under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 115(2), 117(2), 127(2), 109(2), 351(2), 352, 238, and 3(5).
Sources in the agency said that a complaint against Santosh Kumar, along with details of the allegations against him, including that he levelled charges against the investigating officer (IO) to influence the ED probe, was also submitted to the police Tuesday.
Ranchi Zone Inspector General of Police (IG) Manoj Kaushik refused to share any details on the case, while messages and phone calls to Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rakesh Ranjan went unanswered.
Meanwhile, reacting to encirclement of ED’s zonal office, the Opposition in Jharkhand accused the Hemant Soren-led government of trying to tamper with crucial evidence in cases involving the chief minister and the police administration.
Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi wrote on X: “ED office contains important evidence related to thousands of crores in corruption cases involving CM @HemantSorenJMM and links to the police-administration. There is apprehension that under the guise of police action, tampering with or destruction of this crucial evidence may be attempted.”
रांची के एयरपोर्ट रोड स्थित ईडी के क्षेत्रीय कार्यालय को @ranchipolice द्वारा घेरने की सूचना प्राप्त हो रही है। ईडी कार्यालय में मुख्यमंत्री @HemantSorenJMM एवं पुलिस-प्रशासन से जुड़े हजारों करोड़ रुपये के भ्रष्टाचार मामलों से संबंधित महत्वपूर्ण साक्ष्य मौजूद हैं। आशंका है कि…
— Babulal Marandi (@yourBabulal) January 15, 2026
“Previously in Jharkhand, false cases have been filed against the ED, and attempts to attack the ED by JMM-Congress workers have also occurred. Such incidents are attempts to obstruct the independent and impartial functioning of investigative agencies. Hemant ji, listen carefully… We will not let Jharkhand become Bengal. You will definitely receive punishment for corruption,” Marandi further wrote, requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to deploy Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel to ensure the safety of ED officers.
Earlier this month, a similar tussle between state police and the ED played out in full public view in neighbouring West Bengal when officers of the central agency raided the office of political strategy firm I-PAC and the home of its director Pratik Jain. Citing how I-PAC has been working with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for several years now, CM Mamata Banerjee reached the spots raided by the agency and ‘retrieved’ what she said were sensitive documents pertaining to the affairs of her party. With the ED seeking action against Banerjee for her actions, the matter is now in the Supreme Court.
Also Read: ED vs Mamata: SC says dispute ‘serious’, seeks Bengal CM’s response on ‘interference’ in I-PAC raid
What complaint against ED officers says
The probe at the heart of Thursday’s confrontation stems from a 2023 case in which Jharkhand police charged Santosh Kumar with transferring government funds by creating a fake payee ID in the name of contractor Larsen & Toubro. Kumar, the police had alleged, wrongfully transferred funds to the fund of Rs 2.71 crore through cheques.
Kumar was arrested in April 2024 and placed in judicial custody, during which ED officers questioned him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Sources in the agency said that during judicial custody, Kumar maintained he was simply following instructions on fund transfers and that senior officials had made him a scapegoat.
During the hearing on his bail application, Kumar alleged that he was performing his duty as a cashier, which entailed issuing cheques for bills approved by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO). Kumar was released on bail in April last year.
“He skipped summonses during November-December last year and there was an apprehension that he was evading the probe before he appeared on his own, on Monday. Since he wasn’t summoned, the due procedure was followed to record his statement under Section 50 of the PMLA, 2002. However, as soon as the questioning began and he was confronted with the materials and his previous statements, he smashed a glass and hurt himself,” an ED officer told ThePrint, requesting anonymity.
On his part, Kumar alleged, “When I refused [to confess], both of them [ED officers] severely beat me, verbally abused me (including insults to my mother and sister), and repeatedly struck me with a stick with the intention of killing me, saying it wouldn’t matter to them even if I died. Due to the beating, my head split open, and I bled profusely.”
He added in his complaint to the police, “They [ED officers] took me to the Emergency Department of Sadar Hospital at 2 pm, where they threatened me, saying that I had to tell the doctor that the injuries were accidental, otherwise they would send me, my wife, and my children to jail. I got six stitches to the head at Sadar Hospital.”
Kumar further alleged that he was kept at the hospital till 4 pm and later taken to the agency’s zonal office where his “blood-stained T-shirt” was “forcibly removed”. He claimed that repeated requests to alert his family about his whereabouts were denied.
“They used this threat to force me to sign a document labelled ‘Incident Report’, which they did not even allow me to read. They also forced me to write a statement requesting to appear at the ED office again on 16 January 2026, and stating that I had voluntarily gone to the ED office today, all under the same threat,” Kumar alleged. He added, “Even after this, I was forcibly detained at the ED office until 10:45 pm, preventing me from reporting the incident to the police, my lawyer, my family, or the press in a timely manner.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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