Invoices of a refrigerator and smart TV are among the evidence the Enforcement Directorate used to support its claim that Jharkhand’s former Chief Minister Hemant Soren acquired 8.86 acres of land worth more than ₹31 crore illegally.
The probe agency obtained these receipts from two Ranchi-based dealers and attached those to its charge sheet filed against the 48-year-old Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and four others last month.
The special PMLA court of Judge Rajiv Ranjan in Ranchi took cognisance of the prosecution complaint on April 4.
Mr. Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in a money laundering case related to the alleged land grab, shortly after he resigned as Chief Minister. He is currently in judicial custody in Birsa Munda jail at Hotwar in Ranchi.
According to the ED, the two gadgets were purchased in the name of the family members of one Santosh Munda who told the agency that he has been "residing as a caretaker of the property of Hemant Soren on the said land (8.86 acres) for 14 to 15 years".
The agency used Mr. Munda's statement to counter Mr. Soren's claim that he had no link with the said land. The ED also rejected the claim of a person named Rajkumar Pahan on the piece of land, alleging that he was a "front" for Mr. Soren to keep the asset under his control.
The ED claimed that soon after Mr. Soren was issued the first summons in this case in August last year, Mr. Pahan wrote to the deputy commissioner of Ranchi stating he and some others have the land in possession and the earlier mutation in the name of other owners be cancelled and they may be saved from being evicted from their property.
The State government "restored" the land to Mr. Pahan on January 29, two days before Mr. Soren's arrest, so that the JMM leader's control and possession remained "unimpeded," the ED alleged.
According to the agency, the land was originally a 'Bhuinhari' property that cannot be transferred or sold to anyone under general situations and 'Mundas' and 'Pahans' were the owners of such land assets.
The immovable asset was later sold to some persons by the original allottees but Mr. Soren got them "evicted" and gained control of the land in 2010-11, the ED claimed.
The ED claims Mr. Munda was entrusted the charge of the property's caretaker at the behest of Mr. Soren, apart from another accused in the case Hilariyas Kachhap who got an electricity meter installed there.
A refrigerator was purchased in February 2017 in the name of Mr. Munda's son while a smart TV was purchased in November 2022 in the name of his daughter at the address where the land is located in Ranchi, the agency said.
Thus, the ED said, it is "established" that Santosh Munda and his family were residing at this property and it was not in possession of the accused person Rajkumar Pahan.
Mr. Soren, Rajkumar Pahan, Hilariyas Kachhap, Bhanu Pratap Prasad and Binod Singh have been named as accused in the 191-page charge sheet. The piece of land — 12 adjacent plots guarded by a cemented wall — has also been attached by the ED on March 30 and it is valued at over ₹31.07 crore.
