ED seeks five-day remand of two bizmen

Ranchi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday produced Kolkata-based businessman and “power-broker” Amit Agrawal, and the director of the Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Private Limited (JTEPL), Dilip Ghosh, before the special PMLA court and sought their five-day remand to question them in connection with the illegal sale of 4.55-acre land, currently under the Army’s possession.
The land is located in the Morabadi area of Ranchi.
The court, however, ordered that the argument on the remand period would be heard on Friday and sent both the accused to jail.
The ED sleuths arrested Agrawal and Ghosh on Wednesday night in connection with the case under Section 19 of the PMLA Act. They brought Agrawal and Ghosh to the court at about noon and filed the petition for remand.
In its prayer, the ED claimed that its investigations have revealed that a fake owner was created of the Army-possessed land and sold it to the JTEPL. The then Ranchi deputy commissioner, Chhavi Ranjan, assisted the accused persons in acquiring the property by overlooking the records available at his office. The cash deposits in JTEPL’s IDFC bank account and transfers to companies owned by Agrawal indicate that the tea company was a front organisation of the businessman for acquiring and laundering his proceeds of crime, the central agency alleged.
The ED further said that during questioning before their arrest, the accused were withholding facts related to the scam and they might create hindrances in the investigation. A huge amount of data has been acquired and it might be tampered with if the accused are not interrogated soon. The interrogation was also needed to ascertain the money trail and the role of other persons involved in laundering the proceeds of crime, the ED added.