V NARADA
Ranchi, April 21: Tiny termites will be the prosecution witness of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Indian Army land and Cheshire Home land scam cases in Ranchi.
The ED has observed that to legalize the grab of both the parcels of land, mafias had interpolated/inserted several forged documents in the thick volumes of the land records and registers at the registry office in Kolkata and Ranchi.
In the sets of original land documents pertaining to the years 1932, 1933 and 1948, land mafias inserted forged documents namely sale deeds to change ownership of the land. This forged deed and backdate entry in the main record was used to grab the land. It was found that while entire pages of voluminous land records had sharp exit/ kick-out holes due to damage done by termites, those suspected forged documents were intact.
“These forged documents were intact whereas the entire register (to which these forged documents are part) have several termites exit holes. About these forged documents mafias and corrupt revenue officials were claiming that these were original and genuine documents. If it is so then can you imagine that over a period of 90 years termites damaged land records except those belonging to land mafias,” well-placed sources said.
The ED, in its investigation report, has elaborately mentioned termites’ factor to claim forged documents were inserted in the record book by mafias barely few years back.
Besides, the ED has also annexed forensic reports related to aging of pages, ink and differences in handwriting. The agency has pointed out few other discrepancies which are quite important to establish that documents were forged with a criminal intent to grab the land in Ranchi. For instance, documents pertaining to 1932 refer Bengal as West Bengal whereas West Bengal was formed in 1947. Similarly, at several places in the document PIN Code has been mentioned along with address of witnesses, seller and purchaser. The Postal Index Number (PIN) was introduced on August 15, 1972.
At one place district Bhojpur has been mentioned as native district of one of the witnesses of this sale deed. However, Bhojpur came into existence in 1972.
What is Indian Army land scam
There is a parcel of costly land measuring 4.55 acres under possession of the Indian Army in Ranchi. One Pradeep Bagachi whom the ED arrested claimed as the rightful owner. He produced a document to show that in the year 1932 his father had purchased the said land from raiyats and the registry was held at the Kolkata land registry office.
The copy of that ‘fake’ document was also interpolated in the land records of the Kolkata registry office. Notably, the ED took up this case for investigation and carried out a nationwide raid against the then Ranchi DC and IAS Chhavi Ranjan, land brokers and many revenue officials.
Even the inquiry ordered by the then South Chhotanagpur Divisional Commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni has stated that 4.55 acres of land in Ranchi currently under possession of the Indian Army, but owned by Jayant Karnad, was fraudulently sold out to one Dilip Ghosh by Pradeep Bagchi.
The inquiry was ordered in the wake of a complaint lodged by national general secretary of Akhil Bhartiya Anusuchit Jati Mahasabha, Upendra Kumar in November 2021. Kolkata-based Dilip Ghosh is the director of Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Private Limited and he is learnt to have a close connection in the power corridors of Jharkhand.
The inquiry conducted by the Deputy Director (Welfare) has said that a fake document (registration number 4369/1932) of the ownership of the said land was created in favour of the seller Pradeep Bagchi.
“It is a prime land situated in the heart of the city under the occupation of the Indian Army. It is very surprising that after the said purchase Bagchis never turned to any court against the occupation of their land by the Indian Army or to demand rent. 90 years later, all of a sudden, Pradeep Bagchi came and sold the land to Dilip Kumar Ghosh, director of Jagatbandhu Tea Estate. It creates strong doubts,” the report states.
Brief history of land
As per the record, the said land is situated under Bargain block, Mauja Morabadi, police station number 192 and ward 21. The land was originally registered in the name of Pramod Nath Das Gupta which was later on transferred to his rightful legal heir Jayant Karnad.
The land witnessed many legal judgments and administrative orders from 1967 onward for the claim of rent and occupancy rights. As per the record, the said land has been in occupation of the Indian Army since April 1943 and the Indian Army used to pay the rental to the owner. In 2007 Jayant Karnad moved a Writ Petition (1903/2007) before the High Court for the release of his property from the occupation of the Indian Army. The High Court on October 22, 2008 ordered the Indian Army to deposit the rent in the favour of Jayant Karnad up to the period of November 2008.
In March 2009, the court ordered in the favour of Jayant karnad and ordered the army to vacate his land.
The Defense Estate Officer of the Indian Army filed an L.P.A. (205/2009), Interlocutory Application (7440/2017) and CMP (282/2017) against the order of the court. But the court ruled in the favour of the petitioner and did not grant any relief to the Indian Army.
But despite that, the land remained under possession of the Indian Army. It is evident from the fact when Jayant Karnad sold out land to 13 different people in 2019. The circle officer of Bargain block refused to execute the transfer of the ownership of the land to the purchaser on the ground that said land was under the occupation of the Indian Army not the seller even if he is the owner.
Other findings of inquiry report
Replying to the documents, the inquiry officer said that judgments and administrative orders between 1967 and 2017 related to this land leave no doubt as to who is the rightful owner.
The inquiry officer stated that Pradeep Bagchi claimed that land mafias sold out his land by forging fake documents. The Indian Army was only verbally asked to use his land. Suh claims are bogus.
The inquiry report has claimed that Bagchi fraudulently obtained a holding number from Ranchi Municipal Corporation in April 2021 for which he used the documents (electricity bill) which belong to somebody else. He did all these to prove himself as the rightful owner.
Cheshire Home land scam
In this case the matter involves Jharkhand based top real estate developer Vishnu Agrawal as one of the suspects. The said parcel of land measuring over 60 Kattha is situated at Plot no. 28, Khata No. 37, at village Gari on Cheshire Home Road under Sadar police station. An FIR 399/ 2022 was lodged by the police on the directions of the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ranchi under sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 447, 504, 506, 341, 323 & 34 of Indian Penal Code 1860. Complainant Umesh Kumar Gope who claims to be owner of the said land lodged an FIR against Vishnu Agarwal who is the owner of Nucleus Mall in Ranchi besides Punit Bhargav, Bharat Prasad, Rajesh Rai, Lakhan Singh and Imtiyaz Ahmed. Punit Bhargav is said to be close to power broker Prem Prakash who was arrested by the ED in the illegal stone mining case.
