Explained: What are Three ED Cases Against Hemant Soren

ED Cases Against Hemant Soren : Finally ED has arrested the Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned him for 10th time, then he went ‘missing’ the later surfaced back in the state. Earlier ED had questioned him on January 20,24. But this is not only one case, he is under radar for multiple cases.

How many cases ED investigating against Hemant Soren? 

At present the ED has been investigating into at least three cases. Apart from land grabbing, CM Soren is also under the cloud in two more cases, illegal mining- office of profit case, and Sahibganj coal mining. 

How many time CM Hemant Soren has evaded ED Summons ?

The federal agency has previously summoned the chief minister for questioning at its zonal office in Ranchi on August 14, August 24, September 9, September 23, October 4 and December 12 and Dec 29 and Jan 4.  However, the JMM leader has never appeared before the agency, citing different reasons. Meanwhile Hemant had filed a petition before the Supreme Court and then the Jharkhand High Court seeking protection from the ED action. Both the courts had dismissed his petition.

The agency has arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan who had earlier served as the director of the state social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

What is Land Grabbing Case against Hemant Soren ?

Enforcement Directorate (ED) reported that criminals used to fake records in Kolkata and Ranchi. They also forged by the ownership records in connivance with government officials. 

As per ED, three land parcels in Ranchi worth Rs 161.64 crore were mutated in favor of land mafias. These land parcels at Cheshire Home Road, Pugru and Siram, have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

2011 batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan is also among the 14 arrested people in the case. Chavi previously served as the director of the sate social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.  

What is the Modus operandi of Land Grabbing Case ?

In 2022, Dilip Sharma, a tax collector in Ranchi Municipal Corporation had filed a police complaint against an individual Pradip Bagchi. He alleged that Bagchi has  forged paper to acquire an Indian Army property in Ranchi. EC has registered the case in June 2022. Further investigation revealed that before independence, land was owned by B.M. Laxman Rao who later handed it to Indian Army. 

During investigation ED discovered that syndicate of land mafias, middlemen and bureaucrats had forged documents to show one of the accused Pradeep Bagchi as owner (Fake). Further, he sold this land to West Bengal-based Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Private Limited. 

Custodial interrogation of IAS officer Chavi Ranjan reveals that the original record was tampered by inserting fresh pages or overwriting on existing pages. Directorate of Forensic Science Services in Gandhinagar has also conducted a forensic examination of five pages that proved the tampering of records.  

As per submitted documents by ED in CBI court, IAS officer Ranjan orally directed the circle officer to complete the mutation of 1 acre property at Cheshire Home Road in Ranchi in the name of Bishnu Agarwal and his wife Anushree Agarwal. 

ED has also claimed that they have proved the quid pro quo between IAS Ranjan and Bishnu Aggarwal. As pe the ED, the scrutiny of Bishnu Agarwal’s mobile phone (Seized by ED) revealed that Bishnu has paid for the IAS officer Ranjan’s Goa Tour. Aggarwal has paid for the booking in cash through one of his staff member.   

What is Illegal Mining- office for profit case against Hemant Soren ?

In the year 2021, Hemant Soren obtained the lease for granite-gneiss rocks known as building stones, he was also holding the mining and environment portfolios, obtained the mining lease for 0.88 acre in Angara block of Ranchi. The letter of intent was issued by Ranchi’s district mining office. As controversy erupted, CM surrendered the lease in February 2022. 

Then BJP delegation led by former chief minister Raghubar Das handed over memo to Governor Ramesh Bais seeking disqualification of CM Soren. Former CM Das alleged that CM should be removed under  section 9A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951.  

 Further, Governor Bais forwarded those documents to ECI for their opinion. ECI had shared its recommendation in August,2023. But it is still not disclosed, neither by then Governor Ramesh Bais nor by the present Governor CP Radhakrishnan.

What is Sahibganj ‘illegal’ stone mining case ?  

On Jan 4 this year, ED has raided on 12 locations in the state including premises owned by Soren’s press adviser Abhishek Prasad in connection Sahibganj Illegal stone mining case.

Last year on July 19,ED has arrested Pankaj Mishra, who the agency has allegedly mentioned as ‘kingpin’. As per ED, Mishra used his influence to control the mining business in Sahib Ganj and he received Rs 42 crore as his share. Mishra is currently in Judicial custody. ED has claimed that accused has mined unallotted sites as well, which disturbed the ecological balance.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Pankaj Mishra along with Bishnu Yadav and Pavitra Yadav of Maa Amba Stone Works for their alleged role in “rampant” stone mining in the district. CBI claimed that they have generated more than Rs 1200 crore in proceeds.

Soren in reply to ED dismissed the allegation. He argued that even if we assume that all 6,500 rakes loaded is illegal then still it would have been able to extracted 8 crore MT that would have fetched a royalty of Rs 1,000 crore.