New Delhi — The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of suspended IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan on bail in a money laundering case tied to the Army land scam in Ranchi, where he has been in custody for more than two years.
The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, while granting bail, instructed Ranjan to remain in India unless granted prior approval by the court and to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during investigations.
Ranjan, a 2011-batch IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, was taken into custody on May 4, 2023, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His previous attempts to secure bail from the special PMLA court and the Jharkhand High Court were unsuccessful.
The ED has filed two separate cases against him. The first, involving forged documents for the sale of a one-acre plot on Cheshire Home Road in Ranchi, saw him granted bail earlier by the High Court. The second case, now under the Supreme Court’s relief order, relates to the unlawful transfer of 4.5 acres of Army land in Bariatu.
The agency contends that, during his term as Ranchi Deputy Commissioner, Ranjan misused his authority to facilitate fraudulent land transfers with local dealers and officials, laundering the proceeds through various channels.
Businessman Vishnu Agarwal, Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and land brokers including Afsar Ali, Fayaz Khan, Mohammad Saddam, Imtiaz Khan, Talha Khan, Amit Agarwal, Dilip Ghosh, and Pradeep Bagchi have also been charged in the scam.
Suspended after his arrest, Ranjan had previously served as Deputy Commissioner in Ranchi and Koderma. Following Friday’s decision, he is now poised to leave prison after more than two years.
With inputs from IANS