Illegal Land Grabbing Case: ED raids over a dozen places in West Bengal, Jharkhand

Amit Agrawal, who is being held in Jharkhand's Birsa Munda Central Jail, is accused of allegedly giving the money to Kumar in exchange for his name being removed from a public interest litigation filed in the Jharkhand High Court.

Image Credit: ANI; Representational Image

New Delhi: According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at nearly a dozen locations in West Bengal and Jharkhand on Friday in connection with a money laundering case against those illegally occupying Indian Army lands. According to sources, the raids are taking place in nearly four locations in West Bengal and eight locations in Jharkhand. According to sources, the locations searched included the home and office of a Kolkata-based businessman named Amit Agrawal, as well as several others. According to sources, Agrawal was previously detained by the Enforcement Directorate, and the raids were planned following his revelation in the case. According to reports, several acres of Army land in Jharkhand were illegally occupied in collaboration with 'land mafias' and politicians.

Amit Agrawal’s arrest

Amit Agrawal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last month in connection with a money laundering investigation. On July 31, ED officials arrested Amit Agrawal in connection with the seizure of Rs 50 lakh from advocate Rajiv Kumar in Kolkata. Agrawal, who is being held in Jharkhand's Birsa Munda Central Jail, is accused of allegedly giving the money to Kumar in exchange for his name being removed from a public interest litigation filed in the Jharkhand High Court. In addition, the ED has filed a prosecution complaint against Agrawal in the PMLA court.

Illegally grabbing land owned by the Indian Army in Jharkhand

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted four raids on Friday at various locations linked to a Jharkhand-based businessman currently residing in Kolkata in connection with a complaint of stealing Army land. According to ED sources, similar raids are being carried out in various parts of Jharkhand by eight teams of the central investigation agency. Amit Agarwal, a businessman, is accused of illegally grabbing land owned by the Indian Army in Jharkhand. The first ED team raided and searched Agarwal's home in Salt Lake, on the outskirts of Kolkata's northern outskirts. Another team conducted a similar raid and search operation at Agarwal's motor parts office in Nonapukur, Kolkata's central business district.

According to reports, this is not the first time the ED has conducted raids at Amit Agarwal's premises. Previously, the central investigation agency officials conducted similar raids on this count twice last year. Dilip Ghosh, the BJP's national president and a Lok Sabha member, responded to the raids by saying that West Bengal has become a hub of corruption, and thus raids and search operations by central agencies have become routine. "The people of West Bengal are really frustrated with this trend. The people will get more frustrated if the offenders are not punished," he said. There was no reaction from the ruling Trinamool Congress until the report was filed.

(With agencies inputs)