New Delhi: Illegal possession of land parcels through forgery of records and close aides and deployment of front men to form “parallel evidence” for hiding ownership of these plots are among the Enforcement Directorate’s broad charges against former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren.
While the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was arrested 31 January in connection with the alleged ownership of land parcels in Ranchi, the ED filed a charge sheet against Soren and his alleged aides Rajkumar Pahan, Hilariyas Kachhap and Binod Singh and a former revenue sub-inspector, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, on 30 March.
Soren is currently under judicial custody.
“Investigation has established that the above stated 5 accused, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Hemant Soren, Binod Singh, Rajkumar Pahan and Hilariyas Kachhap, are involved in the illegal acquisition of proceeds of crime in form of a landed property admeasuring 8.86 acres by Hemant Soren,” reads the ED’s charge sheet naming the JMM leader as an accused.
“The processes and activities related to acquisition of this property have led to the commission of the offence of money laundering defined under Section 3 of PMLA and punishable under Section 4. The accused persons have directly indulged and projected the same as untainted property thereby committing the offence of money laundering under Section 3 of the PMLA which is punishable under Section 4 of PMLA,” it reads.
Confession of Soren’s press advisor
In the operative part of the nearly 6,000-page charge sheet, the ED has based its case relying heavily on digital evidence and statements corroborated by the land records.
The ED reiterated that during the raids conducted while investigating another money laundering case related to illegal transfer of land ownership, it stumbled upon Bhanu Pratap Prasad, who allegedly kept a land records register illegally at his residence.
Following the raids in April 2023, the agency approached the Jharkhand chief secretary resulting in an FIR filed by the Ranchi police.
The agency took cognisance of the FIR and filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in April 2023 and summoned Prasad to explain the reasons behind keeping registers at his home.
The ED alleged that the registers had reference to 8.86 acres at Ranchi’s Bariyatu. In a statement recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA, Prasad allegedly said that circle officer Manoj Kumar had given him “verbal directions” to conduct verification of the property which belonged to “boss” — as Prasad and other officers allegedly referred Soren as.
Section 50 empowers the ED to summon a person and record a statement.
The agency further alleged that Prasad conducted verification of the land with land surveyor Shashinder Mahto, who also allegedly “admitted” that he came to know during verification that Soren was the owner.
Prasad’s mobile phone had a picture showing the description of the land belonging to Soren, which was part of a 44-page document and a brown file written ‘CMO URGENT PINTU’, it alleged, adding that the file was seized from Prasad’s chamber during searches at the Bargain Circle office on 6 March.
Soren’s media advisor Abhishek Prasad ‘Pintu’ got the land verification done through his Principal Private Secretary (PPS) Uday Shankar, who ordered circle officer Manoj Kumar and eventually Bhanu Pratap Prasad carried out the verification process and submitted the report, the ED alleged.
Pintu confessed to giving instructions to his PPS for the verification on the “instructions” of Soren and that he asked for verification of two more properties belonging to the Soren family, it claimed.
“He was shown the WhatsApp chats between him and Uday Shankar. He identified the chats dated 12.10.2022 in which he had instructed Uday Shankar for verification of the two properties. The printouts of the chats and its attachment were also taken. It is seen that these properties also belong to Hemant Soren,” the ED alleged.
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Role of the Pahan family
Soren has repeatedly argued that the parcel of land attributed to him and leading to his arrest belonged to the Pahan family and that it was non-transferable as per the provisions of the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act.
The ED has said that Raj Kumar Pahan’s ancestors sold this parcel of land, a fact corroborated by the registered deeds done between 1978 and 1989.
It also alleged that people — who were residing in the plot for decades — could not identify Pahan, who claimed to be the legal owner of the plot.
Additionally, the ED alleged that Pahan worked as the front man for Soren and filed an application before the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi, right after the latter was summoned to appear in the case.
The ED alleged that Pahan’s application seeking cancellation of ownership transfer was registered in a Scheduled Area Regulation (SAR) case on 9 January. The court order cancelling the deeds on 29 January was “too quick” a verdict for such cases, it contended.
Pahan is directly linked to Hemant Soren and Hilariyas Kachhap in projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted property, according to the ED. “Kachhap was directly involved in getting the verification of the property with Bhanu Pratap Prasad. Rajkumar Pahan has also manipulated others.”
Mention of Soren’s wife
The ED for the first time has mentioned Soren’s wife Kalpana in connection with the alleged illegal possession of the land.
The JMM chief controls nearly 73 decimals of the total 8.86 acres of land through Ranjit Singh, who is allegedly in partnership with Kalpana in a Bokaro-headquartered firm, according to the agency.
The partnership deed between Singh and Kalpana was executed on 20 October 2020, a copy of which was seized during searches conducted at the official premises of Soren’s chartered accountant in August 2022.
The ED alleged that the file seized from Bhanu Pratap Prasad’s chamber also contained a lease paper executed between Ranjit Singh and Chandrika Pahan, Birsa Pahan and others and the address given by Singh on the deed was exactly the same that Soren gave during questioning.
“The facts clearly link Hemant Soren with Bhuinhari property of the Pahans/Mundas. The plot 2626 in R.S Khata no. 236 measuring 73 decimals is controlled by Soren through his associate Ranjit Singh, while the property admeasuring 8.86 acres is controlled through his associate and co-accused Kachhap,” the ED alleged.
“Both Singh and Kachhap have entered into lease agreements for projecting valid possession over the property and have stated to use this property for educational purposes in the lease agreements.”
The ED made another reference to Kalpana while alleging that Soren’s close aide Binod Singh, who runs a consultancy company, had on 6 April 2021 proposed setting up a banquet hall.
The location mentioned in the WhatsApp chat between Soren and Binod Singh matched the features of the 8.86 acres of land allegedly in illegal possession of the JMM chief, it alleged.
“It is also worth mentioning that Hemant Soren has vested interest in banquet halls as one of the prominent banquet halls of Ranchi, Sohrai Bhawan, is being run by his wife. During the course of investigation, it also surfaced that cash worth crores of rupees has been deposited in recent times in the bank accounts of Sohrai Bhawan and its related entities,” the charge sheet reads.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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