Last month, the agency filed a charge sheet against Soren and four others. The special PMLA court of Judge Rajiv Ranjan in Ranchi acknowledged the prosecution complaint on April 4.
Mr Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31, shortly after resigning as chief minister, in connection with a money laundering case related to alleged land grabbing. He remains in judicial custody at Birsa Munda jail in Hotwar, Ranchi.
According to the ED, the two gadgets were purchased under Santosh Munda’s family members’ names. Munda informed the agency that he has been “residing as a caretaker of the property of Hemant Soren on the said land (8.86 acres) for 14 to 15 years.”
The ED alleged that following the issuance of the first summons to Mr Soren in August last year, Mr Pahan wrote to the deputy commissioner of Ranchi, stating that he and others had the land. He requested the cancellation of earlier mutations in the names of other owners to prevent eviction from their property.
The state government, the ED claimed, “restored” the land to Mr Pahan on January 29, two days before Mr Soren’s arrest, to ensure uninterrupted control and possession by the JMM leader.
According to the federal probe agency, the land originally belonged to ‘Bhuinhari’ properties, which under normal circumstances cannot be transferred or sold to anyone. ‘Mundas’ and ‘Pahans’ were the original owners of such land assets.
The ED alleged that the immovable asset was later sold to some individuals by the original allottees. However, Soren allegedly evicted them and gained control of the land in 2010-11.
Santosh Munda informed the ED that Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana visited the land “two to three times.” Munda also worked as a labourer when a boundary wall was being erected at the plot.
The ED claims that Mr Munda was appointed as the property’s caretaker at the behest of Mr Soren, along with another accused in the case, Hilariyas Kachhap, who had an electricity meter installed there.
A refrigerator was purchased in February 2017 in the name of Mr. Munda’s son, while a smart TV was bought in November 2022 in the name of his daughter, at the address where the land is located in Ranchi, the agency said.
The ED alleged that Mr Pahan acted as a frontman of Hemant Soren to show possession of the property, thereby frustrating evidence against Mr Soren and concealing the proceeds of the crime.
The agency listed these bills as evidence and attached them to the charge sheet under the ‘relied upon documents’ category, seeking prosecution of Soren and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Mr Soren, Rajkumar Pahan, Hilariyas Kachhap, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and Binod Singh have been named as accused in the 191-page charge sheet. The piece of land, comprising 12 adjacent plots guarded by a cemented wall, was attached by the ED on March 30, valued at over ₹31.07 crore.
The agency uncovered this alleged land grab case while investigating another money laundering case in 2022, involving the fraudulent acquisition of a 4.55-acre land of the defence ministry at Morabadi in Ranchi.
According to the ED, the probe revealed the involvement of private individuals and government officials, including the ex-DC Ranchi, Chhavi Ranjan, and Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a sub-inspector of the Jharkhand government revenue department, in a land-grabbing syndicate. They were allegedly involved in corrupt practices such as acquiring properties based on false deeds and tampering with government records to facilitate fraudulent acquisition of land properties.
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