Chhavi’s remand extended by 4 days

RANCHI: The special PMLA court on Friday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of suspended IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan for four more days in the land scams and money laundering cases.
Notably, the ED produced Ranjan before the court on the last day of the six-day remand granted by the court on May 7. The investigating agency’s special public prosecutor, Shiv Kumar, had prayed for an extension for six more days.
The ED said the extension was sought for identifying other beneficiaries of the fraud from Ranjan. The ED said it also wants to confront the accused with the material in its hand during his statement and that Ranjan has been evasive in the questioning so far.
The agency also said it aims to identify the properties acquired from the proceeds of crime by the accused and added that it wants to corroborate the information gathered from the digital devices with the accused.
The agency claimed before the court that the other accused in the case, Afsar Ali and Pradeep Bagchi, prepared fake deeds from the Registrar of Assurance office located in Kolkata.
They hatched a conspiracy in connivance with the then deputy commissioner Ranjan, Prem Prakash, an accused in an illegal mining case and Amit Kumar Agrawal, a businessman, accused of maligning the judiciary to get the 4.5-acre land under Morabadi mouza sold to Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt Limited. The company is a profitable venture of Agrawal. The plot is under the Army’s possession now.
Ranjan while serving as the Ranchi DC allegedly misused his official position to help in the transaction of land.