RANCHI: One of the city’s private hospitals has become the talk of the town after it was raided by the enforcement directorate (ED) last week. The land on which Pulse Super Speciality Hospital is constructed has changed hands in a controversial transaction which finally went in favour of Abhishek Jha, the husband of suspended mines secretary Pooja Singhal.
The hospital became operational in February 2019, just before the first wave of Covid-19 struck Jharkhand. It also has a sister diagnostic centre, under the same name, which has been functional for over seven years now.
When TOI spoke to several stakeholders who are familiar with the construction and procurement of land for the hospital, they said the land title belonged to someone but another person had the power of attorney and permission for the construction of a residential building on the area. The land was later sold to Jha.
The Ranchi district administration, led by deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan, is now hunting for the documents of the dealings to find out if there were any anomalies.
Sources in the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) said the civic body issued an order for the construction of a residential building to a person named Alok Kumar Sarawagi in December 2017. In 2019, a no-objection certificate was issued to Alok Kumar Sarawagi by the town commissioner to start the construction.
“The order was issued in the name of Alok Sarawagi as he was the power of attorney holder for the piece of land. However, the land belonged to one Ravi Sarawagi, the director of a real estate company,” a source said.
The source further said the land was sold to Jha after the RMC approved the plan for the residential building for Alok. “Ravi Sarawagi had sold the land to Jha on April 2, 2018,” the source added.
On being asked whether a hospital can be constructed on the land after permission was issued in the earlier owner’s name for a residential building, town planner Arun Kumar said, “If a permission is granted for construction to a party and if the piece of land gets transferred to another person, then the new owner has to get a fresh permission for the new construction.”
