LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, July 12: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), investigating a land scam under money laundering charges, today arrested Vishnu Agarwal, director of Nucleus Mall.
Agarwal, who had earlier skipped several ED summons on health and religious grounds, appeared before the agency for interrogation in the afternoon.
The ED decided to take Agarwal into custody and then interrogate him after his answers were found to be not satisfactory.
He had earlier been questioned for nine hours on June 22.
He was previously called for questioning on May 8. He attended the office but asked for more time due to health concerns.
The ED wants Agarwal to reveal his relationships with former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan and power broker Prem Prakash. In addition to the disputed land sale and purchase case, the ED is probing into those who aided in the forgery and about another land plot occupied by the army near Siramtoli Chowk in Ranchi.
The mutation of one acre of disputed land on Cheshire Home Road was carried out in the names of Vishnu Agarwal and his wife Anushree Agarwal by Manoj Kumar, the then Circle Officer of Bargain, based on the verbal orders of Chhavi Ranjan, the former Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi.
In a raid on Vishnu Agarwal’s premises on November 4 last year, the ED had seized his mobile phone.
The data on the phone revealed crucial information, including Agarwal’s deep ties with Chhavi Ranjan.
It was discovered that Ranjan had allegedly illegally transferred possession of non-saleable land at Pugadu in Namkum Mauza to Agarwal.
