Jharkhand government revokes suspension of IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan

RANCHI: In a major relief to IAS Chhavi Ranjan, Jharkhand government has revoked his suspension effectively from October 14, the day he was released from jail after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to land scam. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 4, 2023, and had been in judicial custody for more than 29 months. The action was taken following his application to the state government requesting to revoke his suspension. With this, Ranjan may get a posting to any department soon. The Supreme Court granted him bail with certain conditions. The Supreme Court granted conditional bail to Chhavi Ranjan on October 10 in a money laundering case linked to land scam. While granting bail to Chhavi Ranjan, the Supreme Court had put conditions that he shall not attempt to influence witnesses related to the case and will not leave Jharkhand without the trial court's permission during the bail period. The Supreme Court has also stipulated that Chhavi Ranjan will appear in person on every trial date. Chhavi Ranjan, a 2011 batch IAS officer, has served as the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi and was posted at the Department of social welfare, when he was arrested by the ED. The case in which he has been granted bail involves the fraudulent purchase and sale of land located in Bariatu under the Bargai circle in Ranchi, which was under the possession of the Army. Ranjan was Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi from July 15, 2020 to July 11, 2022. Notably, before his arresting, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raids on 21 locations linked to Chhavi Ranjan spread across Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal and had unearthed a huge land scam by a gang of scamsters having expertise in preparing fake documents, falsifying and forging original documents in Ranchi. Ranjan was the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi when stone mining lease was allegedly granted to Chief Minister Hemant Soren for stone mining at Angara in the outskirts of Ranchi. Apart from former Deputy Commissioner and IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, the ED has also named prominent businessman Vishnu Agrawal, revenue sub-inspector of Bargai circle Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Pradeep Bagchi, land dealers Afsar Ali, Imtiaz Khan, Talha Khan, Faiyaz Khan, Mohammad Saddam, Amit Agrawal, and Dilip Ghosh as accused in the case.