Administrator
11 October 2025
*File picture of Chhavi Ranjan, IAS in sky blue dress
Remaining inside the high walls in Ranchi,Chhavi Ranjan is packing up his bags to come out of jail on bail after almost two and half years.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to him today( October 11,2025). Chhavi Ranjan is Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer and former Ranchi Deputy Commissioner who has been in jail in a money-laundering case.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said despite Ranjan spending 30 months in jail, the Enforcement Directorate has not been able to complete the trial in the case.
"We understand that the allegations are very serious but the ED has to prove these allegations. He cannot be kept inside for an infinite period," the bench told advocate Zoheb Hussain, who represented the ED in the matter.
The bench, however, restrained the former DC rom leaving Jharkhand without the prior permission of the court.
"Taking into consideration the period already spent by the petitioner in custody, however, without expressing any opinion on the nature of the allegations levelled against him, we are inclined to release the petitioner on bail. The petitioner is, accordingly, directed to be released on bail, subject to his furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court," it said.
The bench said Ranjan shall remain present before the trial court on each and every date of hearing and fully cooperate for the timely conclusion of the pending proceedings.
The court noted that Ranjan is one of the accused in the ED case registered in 2022 and the allegations against the main accused, Amit Kumar Agarwal, and others are that they committed fraud in the records of a sale deed dated October 1, 2021, which pertained to a property owned by one Jayant Karnad.
Ranjan is alleged to have conspired and assisted the main accused to get the records of the land holding fabricated, with a view to availing loan facilities etc. The petitioner is a member of the All India Services. He was arrested on May 4, 2023 and has been in custody since then.
