ED arrests 7 after raids against Jharkhand IAS officer, others

Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested seven people, including a government officer, after it conducted raids in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged land grab case, official sources said Friday.

Those taken into custody have been identified as Afshar Ali, Imtiaz Ahmed, Pradeep Bagchi, Md Saddam Hussain, Talha Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad and Faiyaz Khan.

Prasad has been identified as a state government officer.

The seven have been arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The raids were launched on Thursday at 22 places in the three states, including at the premises of 2011-batch Jharkhand cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as a deputy commissioner in state capital Ranchi earlier.

The action was taken under the provisions of the anti-money laundering law and the agency is looking at a clutch of alleged land grab cases, including defence land.

BJP leader Babulal Marandi had on Thursday issued a statement and sought to know what action will Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren take after the latest action of the ED.