The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail application of former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner and IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, accused of fraudulent sale-purchase of land in Ranchi. The rejection of his bail plea comes as a major setback for Ranjan. Earlier, on July 25, the court had reserved its order after hearing arguments from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the defence. Earlier, the Ranchi PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court had also refused to grant bail to Chhavi Ranjan, prompting him to move the High Court seeking relief. 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. Sources claimed that the ED is probing aspects of money laundering in illegal sale and purchase of 5.44 acres of Army land in Bargai circle of Ranchi. Ranjan was the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi when stone mining lease was granted to Chief Minister Hemant Soren for stone mining at Angara in the outskirts of Ranchi. The ED has already filed a chargesheet against former Ranchi DC and IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, noted businessman Vishnu Agrawal, Bargai circle revenue sub-inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Pradeep Bagchi, and land dealers Afsar Ali, Imtiaz Khan, Talha Khan, Faiyaz Khan, Mohammad Saddam, Amit Agrawal, and Dilip Ghosh.
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