Jharkhand land deals case: ED makes 2 more arrests

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested two more people on Wednesday night in connection with its money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal land deals in the state, official sources said.

Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal and his father-in-law Dilip Ghosh were taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

Eight people, including 2011-batch Jharkhand-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan, were arrested by the federal agency in the case earlier. With the latest action, the total number of people arrested in the case stands at 11.

Agrawal was arrested by the ED in the past in connection with a separate money-laundering investigation.

The two arrested accused are expected to be produced before a court on Thursday where the agency will seek their remand for custodial interrogation, the sources said.

The probe pertains to the agency looking at more than a dozen land deals, including one pertaining to a defence land, wherein a group, including land mafia, middlemen and bureaucrats, allegedly ''connived'' in forging deeds and documents from as early as 1932.

Land of the poor and downtrodden were ''usurped'' as part of this ''fraud'', the sources had said.

To launch its investigation under the PMLA, the federal agency took cognisance of a police FIR of forgery of some personal identification documents registered by civic authorities in Ranchi.

The agency, according to the ED sources, has recovered a number of fake seals, land deeds and registry documents during searches.