ED arrests jailed aide of ex-CM Soren in forgery case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested an alleged aide of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren who is already in judicial custody since his arrest in April last year in connection with an alleged land scam in state capital Ranchi, a lawyer familiar with the case said.

“Mohammed Saddam Hussain was arrested on April 14 last year in a case involving army land and Cheshire Home project. He has been in judicial custody at Birsa Munda Central Jail since his arrest. He was arrested again in another case on Tuesday and the agency produced him before the PMLA court, which sent him to four-day ED remand,” said the lawyer, who didn’t wish to be identified.

HT has seen the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court order.

Court records suggest that Hussain was a party in forgery of government records relating to a land parcel at Bargain in Ranchi. Soren is an accused in the case.

“The scrutiny of the documents seized from the possession of Saddam Hussain on 13.04.2023 in ECIR/RNZO/18/2022, have led to identification of certain fake documents which are related to the said 8.86-acre property which is in illegal and concealed possession and use of Hemant Soren,” reads one of the documents that is part of court records.