Jharkhand Land Scam: ED Chargesheet Says Soren ‘Denied Documents, Created False & Parallel Evidences’ – News18

The Enforcement Directorate, in its chargesheet filed in the Jharkhand land scam case, has said former chief minister Hemant Soren first denied the documents, then lied, created “false and parallel evidences” to evade probe, mislead investigators and tamper with evidence.

According to the agency’s chargesheet, known as a prosecution complaint, senior government officers – an arrested IAS officer, circle officer and others – gave their statement that confirmed the findings that Soren committed the offences and enjoyed the proceeds of the crime.

News18 exclusively accessed the chargesheet, which was filed on March 30, in connection with the land scam case in which the JMM leader is the main accused. He was arrested on January 31 in Ranchi.

“The knowledge of the accused person Hemant Soren about this investigation and his intention to create parallel evidences for concealing his illegal ownership and possession over the property for disassociating himself from it is also evident from the application dated 16.08.2023 (August 16, 2023) filed by his accomplice Rajkumar Pahan just after the issuance of first summons to him, ie, the accused Hemant Soren on 07.08.2023 (August 7, 2023) for his appearance on 14.08.2023 (August 14, 2023),” said the ED in its chargesheet.

“Such actions on the part of accused person Hemant Soren itself amounts to projecting tainted property as untainted apart from concealing the true nature of the proceeds of crime and fulfil the ingredients of the offence of money laundering under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” it added.

‘Vested interest’

The ED further said Soren, while recording his statement, was asked about “a letter dated June 23, 2023, which was addressed to the Jharkhand chief secretary under Section 66(2) of the PMLA, 2002 in ECIR: RNZO/18/2022 (pertaining to land scam case) wherein, information was shared with the state government and a request was made to register an FIR in matter of seizure of counterfeit rubber stamps”. Soren, who was then the CM, did not furnish any information with regard to the letter mentioned.

The agency seized the letter from the premises of 5/1 Shanti Niketan, New Delhi, which, as per the chargesheet, was under the use and occupation of the “accused person Hemant Soren”.

“The said letter was seized from the room exclusively used by him (Soren). Only some specific documents were seized from his premises, which were related to the investigation into the land scam cases. This also establishes the vested interest of the accused person Hemant Soren in relation to the investigation into these land scam cases undergoing at the Directorate of Enforcement, Ranchi, as his stakes are also involved,” the ED said.

“During the investigation, statements of several persons have been recorded under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. These statements reveal that the accused persons namely Hemant Soren and Bhanu Pratap Prasad are knowingly a party in the activities connected with acquisition, possession, concealment and use of proceeds of crime,” it said.

‘Boss’ of the land syndicate

The ED chargesheet said one of the accused persons in the case, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, in his statement said – ‘The property belongs to Hemant Soren, whom they refer to as boss’.

“…Prasad was a member of a syndicate, which was involved in acquiring lands by fraudulent means, that included tampering with original government registers, falsification of government records and manufacturing fake documents,” said the chargesheet.

It added, “The accused Bhanu Pratap Prasad was directly involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to

acquire and dispose of properties in an illegal manner and was an accomplice to several persons, including the accused person, Hemant Soren. This fact is corroborated from the seizure of an image recovered from his mobile phone, which contains the details of a cluster of landed properties situated adjacently on 12 plots at Baragain Anchal, the total area of which is around 8.86 acres. The property was acquired in an illegal and unauthorised manner by the accused person Hemant Soren and he had been in continuous possession of this property since 2010-11.”

Seizures

The ED has also listed the seizures in the chargesheet. Apart from the documents, the files labelled ‘CMO’ on it and the fake land deeds, the agency recovered cash amounting to Rs 36,34,500 after a raid by the officers at Soren’s residence in Delhi on January 29. The agency said the cash was deposited into an account under its name, and has been turned into a fixed deposit.

The ED also gave details of a blue BMW, seized from Soren’s residence. It said the car was bought for the JMM leader and delivered to him by the store.