ED begins probe into Jharkhand land 'scam' and terror-financing links summons Ranchi man

Ranchi/New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) The ED has launched a probe into allegations of a terror-financing link to its ongoing land "scam" case investigation in Jharkhand, official sources said on Friday.
    The federal agency has summoned one Babloo Khan for questioning on August 26 at its zonal office in Ranchi, taking cognisance of a Delhi Police Special Cell action on Thursday during which the cops claimed to have busted an al-Qaeda terror module after arresting 11 people and detaining three others from Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
    The police had said in a statement that the module, according to its current state of operations, was being led by one Dr Ishtiyaq of Ranchi, and aspired to declare 'khilafat (caliphate)' and execute serious terror activities within the country.
    The Enforcement Directorate (ED), the sources said, found that Babloo Khan was a relative of its two arrested accused in the Jharkhand land "scam" case -- Afsar Ali, an employee of RIMS (Ranchi), and Talha Khan.
    An analysis of "evidence and documents" showed that Babloo Khan was also allegedly linked to Ishtiyaq through a nursing home in Ranchi's Bariatu area, they said.
    The agency had said in its charge sheet filed in the case that its investigation found "Afsar Ali was one of the masterminds behind the above stated (land) fraud".
    "He is involved in preparing several fake deeds of properties situated in Ranchi and its suburbs from the office of the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata, in order to acquire and dispose lands in an illegal manner," the agency had claimed.
    Babloo Khan has been summoned for questioning and his statement will be recorded by the investigating officer in the land "scam" case when he deposes on August 26, the sources said.
    The ED may also take cognisance of the latest Delhi Police FIR (filed on July 15) to file a fresh case to probe into the terror financing and land "scam" nexus in Jharkhand and neighbouring states, they added.
    The land "scam" cases of Jharkhand pertain to more than a dozen land deals being probed by the ED, including a defence land, where a group including land "mafia", middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly "connived" in forging land deeds and documents from as early as 1932.
    "A racket of land mafia is active in Jharkhand who used to forge the legacy records in Kolkata and Ranchi and subsequently, on the basis of forged land records, such land parcels were sold to other persons," the ED had said.
    The lands of the poor and the downtrodden were "usurped" as part of this fraud, it had said.
    The prime accused in these alleged land forgery cases is former Jharkhand revenue department sub-inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad. He is under judicial custody at present after the ED arrested him in the case.
    One such instance among these land "scam" cases pertains to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in which the ED had arrested him.
    Jharkhand High Court granted bail to Soren in June, saying there were "reasons to believe he was not guilty" of the charges of money laundering and there was no likelihood of him committing a similar offence. The order was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
    The ED had charged that Soren "illegally acquired" an 8.86 acre land parcel at Baragain Anchal, Bariatu Road, in Ranchi. The 49-year-old Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader has maintained that he did no wrong and these money-laundering charges were a "political conspiracy" against him.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)