The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summonses to Birsa Munda Jail superintendent Hamid Akhtar and advocate Himanshu Mehta regarding a land scam in Ranchi. Akhtar is scheduled to appear before investigators on June 26th while Mehta will appear on June 28th. The ED is expected to question Akhtar for giving undue favours to inmates including IAS officers Pooja Singhal and Chhavi Ranjan, power broker Prem Prakash, Kolkata businessman Amit Agarwal, MLA representative to CM Hemant Soren, Pankaj Mishra and others. The decision to summon Akhtar was made after the ED learned of a meeting between Chhavi Ranjan and Prem Prakash in jail. This jail meeting was mentioned in the charge sheet against Chhavi Ranjan, Amit Agarwal and others.
Akhtar has been in a long-standing controversy and has previously refused to appear before the ED when summoned. He also refused to hand over the CCTV footage of the prison to the ED, which was later destroyed.
The ED’s investigation has discovered that the documents and claims of Jayant Karnad that were submitted to the Jharkhand High Court by advocate Himanshu Kumar Mehta were false. Mehta had deliberately withheld specific facts before the High Court, as the army itself was looking for the rightful claimant to pay the rent. He concealed the fact before the High Court that the petitioner, Jayant Karnad, did not have the succession certificate which was required by the defence. Karnad and Mehta reportedly colluded with each other to obtain favourable orders from the Jharkhand High Court by producing papers or evidence that could prove Jayant Karnad’s succession to the property.
The ED is committed to uncovering and prosecuting corruption, and these summonses demonstrate that those who have committed bribery or other illegal acts, will be held to account for their actions.
