Officers are the alleged culprits responsible for illegal allotment of forest land to private entities in Bokaro. Now, they are facing the music as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today( April 22,2025) carried out searches at 16 locations across Jharkhand and Bihar.

The ED sleuths were involved in a search operation in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to a massive land scam involving 117 acres of forest land in Bokaro.

The raids began early in the morning and were spread across Ranchi, Bokaro, and Ramgarh in Jharkhand, as well as some locations in Bihar.

As per official sources, the operation is part of the ED’s ongoing probe into illegal land transactions and suspected laundering of proceeds of the crime from the sale and purchase of forest land.

The case, originally registered at the Sector-12 police station in Bokaro earlier this year 2025, pertains to the alleged illegal transfer and sale of approximately 117 acres of forest land.

The Jharkhand CID had initially taken up the investigation, which revealed major irregularities.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Jharkhand Police, also probing the 2022 forest land scam, found that 74.38 acres of land belonging to the Forest Department in Bokaro were illegally allotted to a private company by administrative officials.

According to CID findings, the land mafia in alleged collusion with some personnel of Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL) tampered with land records. It was further discovered that the land in question had not been properly handed over to the Forest Department by BSL, which created loopholes exploited by the accused parties for illegal transactions.

Following the revelations, the case was handed over to the ED for investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Sources indicate that the ED is likely to summon and question several individuals, including officials from the Forest Department and BSL, in connection with the case.

The agency is also examining financial trails to ascertain how the proceeds from the land transactions were laundered and who the key beneficiaries were.