Central probe agency—Enforcement Directorate (ED) today questioned Jharkhand High Court advocate Himanshu Kumar Mehta in connection with army land scam in Ranchi. Sources said that it has been alleged that High Court lawyer Mehta made Jayant Karnad entitled to rent the land occupied by the army with the help of false documents and took a large part of the amount received from the sale of the land.

Also, it was Karnad who revealed before the central probe agency that his lawyer (Mehta) was having all the land documents. His name surfaced after the ED summoned Karnad and sought information regarding the documents used in the illegal land deal and the latter named Mehta saying he was his lawyer and all the documents were with  him.

The ED’s primary investigation revealed that Karnad’s documents and claims presented by advocate Mehta in the Jharkhand High Court were false. The probe agency observed that Mehta deliberately withheld specific facts before the High Court, as the Army itself was looking for the rightful claimant to pay the rent.

The ED probe suggested that advocate Mehta concealed the fact before the high court that the petitioner Karnad did not have the succession certificate, which was required by the defence. It suggested that Karnad and Mehta together obtained favourable orders from the Jharkhand High Court by producing papers or evidence which could prove Karnad’s succession to the property.

Karnad made concocted papers and the Jharkhand high court orders were used by him to project himself a rightful owner of the land.

Former Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan and Kolkata businessman Amit Agarwal among others have already been arrested in this case.