Director of Nucleus Mall in Ranchi arrested by enforcement directorate in Land Scam Money laundering probe

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the land scam on allegations of money laundering, has arrested Vishnu Agarwal, director of Nucleus Mall.

Agarwal, who had earlier missed several ED summons on health and religious grounds, appeared before the agency for questioning in the afternoon.

The ED decided to take Agarwal into custody and then interrogate him after his answers were found to be unsatisfactory. Before that, he was interrogated for nine hours on June 22. He was previously summoned for questioning on May 8. He got to the office, but due to health problems, he asked for more time.

The ED wants Agarwal to reveal his links with former Ranchi deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan and powerbroker Prem Prakash. Apart from the controversial land sale and purchase case, the ED is probing those who helped in the forgery and another army-occupied plot near Siramtoli Chowk in Ranchi.

The mutation of one acre of disputed land on Cheshire Home Road was done in the names of Vishnu Agarwal and his wife Anushree Agarwal by Manoj Kumar, then Circle Officer of Bargain, on the verbal orders of Chhavi Ranjan, former Deputy Commissioner. from Ranchi.

In a raid at Vishnu Agarwal's premises on November 4 last year, the ED seized his mobile phone. Data on the phone revealed crucial information, including Agarwal's deep ties with Chhavi Ranjan.

Ranjan was found to have allegedly illegally transferred the ownership of unsaleable land at Pugad in Namkum Mauza to Agarwal.