The Enforcement Directorate is on Thursday raiding multiple locations in West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand related to IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan in connection with a land scam case. Chhavi Ranjan was the Deputy Commissioner of Jharkhand's capital city Ranchi. 


The raids are taking place at a total of 22 places in these states and the premises of Jharkhand cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Chhavi Ranjan are being searched, news agency PTI reported citing sources.


The premises linked to some private persons and some other state government officers are also being searched, the PTI sources said.


The action is being undertaken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).






In March, the central agency seized a cash amount of Rs 3 crores allegedly linked to suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal during a raid at the premises of one Md. Ezhar Ansari at Hazaribagh. Ezhar Ansari controls a group of private companies, the central agency informed.

"The raid was conducted to investigate anomalies in the captive coal consumption case. In this regard, raids were also carried out against former coal and sand in-charge of the Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) Ashok Kumar Singh," news agency ANI reported citing sources.


According to news agency PTI, officials said that wads of cash, largely in the denomination of Rs 500 and a few Rs 2,000 notes, were seized from the premises of Mohammed E Ansari.


The agency recovered the cash while raids were being carried out in an ongoing money laundering investigation against Singhal.


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Pooja Singhal, a 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was arrested on May 11, 2022, on money laundering charges linked to alleged irregularities in the MGNREGA scheme.


In February, the Supreme Court granted the suspended officer interim bail for a period of two months for her to look after her ailing daughter.


The ED is also probing her role in connection with alleged irregularities in the mining sector of the state as part of a second case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).


A prosecution complaint was filed against her on July 5, 2022. The evidence about the corrupt practices was shared with the Jharkhand government under section 66 (2) of the PMLA for considering taking action under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Singhal and others.


The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Jharkhand police and Vigilance Bureau Jharkhand.