BABU IN THE DOCK

THE ED HAS ACCUSED RANJAN OF FACILITATING ILLEGAL PURCHASE AND SALE OF LAND

- Amitabh Srivastava

As Ranchi deputy commissioner from July 2020 to July 2022, Chhavi Ranjan was expected to maintain land records scrupulously. But, on May 4, when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Ranjan, accusing him of being involved in a slew of illegal land deals, they blamed him for dereliction of that very duty. Among the pieces of evidence against the 2011 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer presented by the ED is an instance of Ranjan verbally directing a circle officer to complete the mutation of a one-acre property in the name of one Bishnu Agarwal and his wife Anushree in spite of a dispute relating to it pending before the circle office. A forensic scrutiny of Agarwal's cellphone revealed that he had paid bills for Ranjan's tours in Goa. The arrangements were made through a travel agent in Delhi, who was paid in cash by one of Agarwal's staff.