ED raids dozen locations in Bengal, J’khand

KOLKATA/RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted searches in around a dozen locations in West Bengal and Jharkhand as part of a money-laundering probe into alleged illegal occupation and sale of defence land in Jharkhand, officials said.

The case pertains to alleged fraudulent sale of an army land measuring 4.45 acres in Bariatu in Ranchi. The Ranchi municipal corporation lodged a police complaint in April after a departmental probe into land records suggested the collusion of a few businessmen in Ranchi and Kolkata, and Jharkhand government officials in the sale of the land using forged documents, officials said.

“ED began its probe into the matter last month,” an official said, asking not to be named.

In Bengal, teams of ED officers raided four locations in Kolkata and the adjacent city of Bidhannagar. One team raided the house of businessman Amit Agrawal, who was arrested by ED in a money-laundering case last month. At least eight locations were searched in Ranchi. “Premises linked to at least three government officials were also searched,” a second official said. Congress state president Rajesh Thakur told PTI, “It is evident that the NDA government at the Centre is using constitutional institutions for BJP’s evil purposes.” “I had given documentary evidences (to the state government) on the land scam for which the ED conducted raids but no action was taken,” senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi tweeted.