Supreme Court dismisses ED's plea against grant of bail to accused in Jharkhand land 'scam'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea of the Enforcement Directorate challenging the grant of bail to an accused in a money laundering case related to the sale of 4.55 acres of land of the Indian Army in Ranchi, allegedly by creating false property documents.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is out on bail, is also an accused in a money laundering case arising from the alleged land scam.

A bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said the November 28, 2023, order of the Jharkhand High Court granting bail to accused Dilip Ghosh will not be treated as a precedent in case of other co-accused.

"Under the circumstances, without expressing any opinions on the merits of the case, rather clarifying that the impugned judgment and order passed by the high court shall not be cited as a precedent in case of other co-accused and any of the observations made therein, shall not influence the trial court/ special court during the course of trial, we are not inclined to interfere with the same," the bench said in its order passed on Friday.

It, however, directed the special court to expedite the trial and noted that charges against Ghosh and other co-accused have already been framed by the lower court and the trial is about to commence.

The bench also gave liberty to the Enforcement Directorate to seek cancellation of the bail granted to Ghosh by the high court in case any of the bail conditions imposed by the high court are violated or breached, or any delay tactics are used by him.

"Subject to the above observations, the present special leave petition is dismissed," the bench ordered.

On August 29, the top court sought the bank statements of Ghosh to ascertain the financial transactions related to the sale of the land in question.

The ED had claimed that a land parcel of 4.55 acres belonging to the Indian Army was sold by non-owners by creating falsified documents.

The probe agency had contended that Afshar Ali, a resident of Bariatu locality in Ranchi and his accomplices prepared a fake deed at the office of RoA (Registrar of Assurances (Records), Kolkata, in the name of Prafulla Bagchi, claiming that the land belonged to the latter.

Some of the accused obtained a holding number in respect of the property and offered to sell it to M/s. Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt Ltd (JTEPL) of which Dilip Ghosh is a director.

The JTEPL purchased the property for an agreed amount of Rs 7 crore as against the prevailing value of over Rs 20 crore since there was ongoing litigation regarding the said property with the Indian Army, the high court noted in its order.

It was claimed that cheques were issued by JTEPL in favour of accused Pradeep Bagchi. A cheque for Rs 25 lakh was encashed, and as per mutual understanding, the remaining amount was payable upon handing over the physical possession of the property in question, the high court had said.

The ED has been claiming collusion between the accused and wants to prosecute them for the alleged offence of money laundering.

The money laundering case emanated from an FIR lodged by the Jharkhand Police on June 4, 2022, at Bariatu Police Station in Ranchi under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the IPC against Pradeep Bagchi, a local.

The FIR was based on a complaint by Dilip Sharma, tax collector of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation alleging that Bagchi obtained two holding numbers of the land by submitting forged papers. Later they allegedly fraudulently sold the properties.