Trouble for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is far from over. Barely two and a half months after the arrest of the party's working president and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in an alleged money laundering scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday arrested four persons another JMM leader Antu Tirkey and three others in a land scam case.
The ED conducted raids against Tirkey, Priyaranjan Sahay, real estate trader Vipin Singh, and Irshad on Tuesday. After that, they were taken to the ED office in Ranchi late at night for questioning and then placed under arrest. Former JMM National Committee member Antu Tirkey had left the party in 2019 after failing to secure an assembly election ticket. However, he returned to the JMM fold in 2022.
According to news website India Today, the raids were conducted based on the statements of another accused in the case, Saddam Hussain, who is in police custody. Hussain is believed to be a close aid of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was arrested on January 31 in a forgery case related to land grabbing.
Another accused, Afshar Ali, who was allegedly involved in forging documents to usurp large tracts of land in Jharkhand, was arrested on Tuesday. He is alleged to have committed the crime with Hemant Soren and former state Revenue Department Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, according to media website The Hindu. The ED on March 30 filed a charge sheet against Hemant Soren, Prasad, and two others in the case and sought to confiscate the 8.86-acre land that was allegedly acquired by forgery.
Prasad is the prime accused in the case. According to the ED charge sheet, he misused his position in the Revenue Department to help Soren and others illegally acquire, occupy, and possess the plots. The ED said that a forgery racket is active in Jharkhand, according to The Hindu's report.