RANCHI: After 10 hours of questioning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths arrested IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan on Thursday under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly colluding with land mafias to grab private and government lands in Ranchi.
Ranjan was summoned for the second time on Thursday for questioning after he was allowed to go home on April 24 after 10 hours of questioning. Ranjan is the eighth accused in the land scam. The ED had already arrested seven persons, including a circle inspector and land brokers.
The role of Ranjan in transferring prime lands had come to the fore earlier in a report submitted by the then Divisional Commissioner NM Kulkarni to the state government. The revenue department, however, is said to have turned a blind eye to all these reports.
Ranjan was Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi from July 15, 2020, to July 11, 2022.
A 2011 batch IAS officer, Chhavi Ranjan is currently posted at the State Department of Social Welfare.
On April 13, the Enforcement Directorate sleuths had conducted raids in 21 locations linked to Chhavi Ranjan spread across Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The ED sleuths allegedly unearthed incriminating documents relating to the land scam by a group having expertise in preparing fake documents, falsifying and forging original documents in Ranchi.
It was during his period when stone mining lease was granted to Chief Minister Hemant Soren for mining at Angara on the outskirts of Ranchi.
