In a significant escalation of the high-profile Masipidhi–Makundganj forest land scam investigation, the Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) launched swift operations on Saturday, detaining eight individuals. This decisive action came immediately after the ACB court rejected the bail plea of former Hazaribag deputy commissioner Vinay Choubey (IAS), a prime accused who remains in judicial custody.
Swift Action Following Court Order
Acting promptly on the court's decision, ACB teams fanned out across Nayakhap panchayat in Makundganj under the Muffasil police station area. The agency picked up eight land dealers directly from their residences. While the ACB has not formally declared all as arrested, the detentions mark a clear intensification of the probe.
Those taken into custody include Haji Kallan, Jai Prakash Yadav, Chaturu Prajapati, Indradev Prasad, Shashi Shekhar, and Sanjay Shekhar. Two others, Prem Saw and Satyanarayan Saw, were also detained. Officials have maintained suspense by not immediately clarifying the exact legal status of all detainees, indicating ongoing interrogations.
The Expanding Web of the Land Scam
The crackdown is part of the deepening investigation into a case where the ACB has already named a staggering 72 individuals in its FIR No. 11/25. The accused include the alleged land buyer Vinay Singh, former DC Choubey, two circle officers, and two revenue department employees, among others.
Choubey, who is also an accused in the separate Jharkhand liquor scam but has secured bail in that case, faces further legal trouble. He is implicated in a disproportionate assets case and is being interrogated for it while in jail for the land scam.
A key development earlier was the decision of then sadar circle officer Alka Kumari to turn government witness. She reportedly stated that she was pressured by former DC Choubey to facilitate the controversial land transfer in favor of the buyer.
More Arrests Likely as Probe Intensifies
The rapid weekend action signals that more arrests are imminent. The ACB's search for the two revenue employees, whose bail pleas were already rejected by a lower court, is actively ongoing. The agency's strategy appears to be moving from the top accused to the alleged ground-level facilitators.
In a related development, on Friday, ACB officials conducted a detailed interrogation of businessman Vinay Singh, owner of Nexgen, for over two and a half hours. The questioning focused squarely on Choubey’s role in the land deal and the trail of monetary transactions involved.
The series of events—from the bail rejection to the multiple detentions—underscores the ACB's determined push to unravel the layers of this complex fraud, suggesting that the coming days could see further dramatic turns in the case.
