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The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday granted bail to suspended IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan in a land scam case. The court of Justice Rangon Mukhopadhyay granted bail to Chhavi Ranjan in Cheshire Home land scam case, which is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.

However, the suspended IAS officer will remain in judicial custody as he is an accused in another land scam case related to Army land in Ranchi.

Chhavi Ranjan has been granted bail in ED's case number ECIR 5/2023, while he is yet to secure bail in another case being investigated by ED (case no ECIR -1) known as the army land scam case.

The ED had arrested the former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner on May 4, 2023 after conducting raids at several locations related to the land scam case.

Chhavi Ranjan has been accused of misusing his official position and capacity as a public servant and extending undue benefits to several private parties for corresponding gain to himself while working as the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi from 2020-21 to 2022.

He has been accused of conspiring with power broker Prem Prakash and businessman Amit Kumar Agrawal to transfer 4.55 acres of Army land in Ranchi to M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd.

According to sources the defence land originally belonged to one BM Laxman Rao, who had handed it over to the Army after independence. The syndicate forged the document and Pradeep Bagchi, one of the persons arrested, was made as the fake owner. The land was then sold to a West Bengal-based company Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt Limited.

Sources said that the conspiracy was hatched by accused persons namely Afshar Ali, Pradip Bagchi, Chhavi Ranjan, Prem Prakash Amit Kumar Agarwal and others.