Supreme Court rejects ED's plea against bail of accused in Jharkhand 'land scam'

The Supreme Court has dismissed an ED petition challenging the grant of bail to an accused in a money laundering case related to the sale of 4.55 acres of Indian Army land. File | Image Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Enforcement Directorate's plea challenging the bail of an accused in a money laundering case related to the sale of 4.55 acres of Indian Army land in Ranchi. The accused was allegedly guilty by creating fake title documents.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is out on bail, is also accused in a money laundering case related to the alleged land scam.

A bench comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said that the Jharkhand High Court's November 28, 2023 order granting bail to accused Dilip Ghosh would not be considered a precedent in the case of other co-accused.

“In these circumstances, we do not wish to interfere without expressing any opinion on the facts of the case but rather make it clear that the impugned judgment and order passed by the Supreme Court shall not be used as a precedent in the case of other co-accused and none of the findings made therein shall influence the trial court/special court,” the court said in its order on Friday (September 6).

Also read: A wave of SC verdicts overturns PMLA's strict bail rule

It, however, directed the special court to expedite the trial, noting that the chargesheet against Mr Ghosh and other co-accused had already been framed by the lower court and the trial would begin shortly.

The court also granted the Enforcement Directorate powers to seek cancellation of the bail granted to Mr. Ghosh by the Supreme Court in case he violates or fails to comply with any of the Supreme Court's bail conditions or in case he resorts to delaying tactics.

“Subject to the above findings, the present application for special permission is denied,” the court ordered.

On August 29, the Supreme Court sought Mr Ghosh's bank statements to ascertain the financial transactions related to the sale of the property in question.

The ED had alleged that a 4.55-acre land owned by the Indian Army was sold by non-owners by creating fake documents.

The investigating agency had alleged that Afshar Ali, a resident of Bariatu area of ​​Ranchi, and his accomplices had issued a fake certificate in the name of Prafulla Bagchi at the RoA (Registrar of Assurances (Records)) in Kolkata, claiming that the land belonged to him.

Some of the accused obtained a title number for the property and offered to sell it to Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt Ltd (JTEPL), whose managing director is Dilip Ghosh.

JTEPL purchased the land for an agreed amount of Rs 7 crore instead of the usual value of over Rs 20 crore as there was a litigation pending with the Indian Army regarding the said land, the Supreme Court said in its order.

It was alleged that JTEPL had issued cheques in favour of accused Pradeep Bagchi. A cheque for Rs 2.5 million was encashed and as per mutual agreement, the remaining amount was to be paid on delivery of physical possession of the property in question, the Supreme Court had said.

The ED alleges that there was collusion between the accused and wants to prosecute them for the alleged offence of money laundering.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR filed by the Jharkhand Police at Bariatu police station in Ranchi on June 4, 2022 under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable securities) and 471 (passing off forged documents as genuine) of the IPC against a local man, Pradeep Bagchi.

The FIR was based on a complaint filed by Dilip Sharma, tax collector of Ranchi Municipal Corporation, in which he alleged that Bagchi had obtained two plot numbers by submitting fake documents. Later, they had fraudulently sold the plots.