ED raids multiple locations in Jharkhand in case related to land scam; huge amount of cash recovered

RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids on more than half a dozen locations of 3 Circle Officers (CO), District Transport Officer (DTO), a lawyer, a land broker and others in a case related to a land scam. The locations where raids are being conducted include the residences of the Dhanbad District Transport Officer (DTO), Ranchi Circle Officer (CO), a lawyer, and others in connection with land scams and extortion cases.ED sources claimed that the raids were based on an FIR, related to transactions of money in the name of managing a land scam case, lodged at the Pandra police station in Ranchi. A huge amount of cash has also been recovered from the residence of DTO Diwakar Prasad Dwivedi from his Dev Vihar Apartment in Dhanbad, they informed.In addition to that, the raids are also being conducted at the residences of Jai Kumar Ram, Prabhat Bhushan, Sanjeev Pandey, and Ravi in Ranchi.Notably, Dhanbad DTO, along with Kanke and Namkum CO in Ranchi, is accused of brokering a deal worth Rs 5.71 crore to influence the ongoing investigation being conducted by ED into the land scam. The deal was said to be meant to ensure that their names would not appear in the ED’s charge sheet.Earlier on October 6, land broker Sanjeev Kumar Pandey filed a complaint at Ranchi’s Pandra police station, accusing lawyer Sujit Kumar of cheating him out of Rs 12 lakh in the name of helping him avoid legal consequences in the ED investigation. Pandey in his complaint also alleged that Kumar promised to have his and his associates’ names removed from the charge sheet, but his name still appeared in the charge sheet despite the payment made by him.After his name appeared in the ED charge sheet, Pandey requested Sujit Kumar to return his money back against which, he issued 54 cheques and handed over his car as a guarantee, besides signing an agreement. Despite all these exercises, tensions escalated between the two which resulted in filing a complaint against the lawyer.The lawyer, on the other hand, filed a kidnapping case against Sanjeev Pandey, alleging that Pandey and his associates kidnapped him and extorted Rs 12 lakh before releasing him.



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