Bokaro: In a significant breakthrough, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Jharkhand has arrested Izhar Hussain and Akhtar Hussain for their alleged role in a massive forest land scam involving over 100 acres of illegally transferred land in Tetulia Mouza, Bokaro district. The arrests were made on Saturday, adding a new chapter to an ongoing probe into one of the state’s most alarming land fraud cases.
The duo is accused of fabricating documents to falsely claim ownership of forest land that was originally transferred by Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) back to the Forest Department. Investigators say the land was then fraudulently sold with the help of a nexus involving land mafias, government officials, and possibly BSP insiders. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the financial trails connected to the scam, which has now reached the Supreme Court. The apex court has directed the Jharkhand government to submit all original land records related to the case.
During multiple inspections, CID officials—alongside Bokaro Divisional Forest Officer Rajneesh Kumar—discovered disturbing evidence at the Chas Circle Office. Crucial pages (Volume 60 to 75) from land record registers covering over 400 acres were found either torn or missing, hinting at deliberate tampering to erase ownership traces.
The case originated from an FIR (No. 32/2024) filed by Forest Guard Rudra Pratap Singh at Sector 12 Police Station. The CID later took charge. Jharkhand DGP Anurag Gupta confirmed the arrests and stated that the probe is moving swiftly, with more arrests likely.
Not an Isolated Case: A Decade of Fraud
Bokaro has long been a hotspot for land fraud. A 2016 Special Investigation Team (SIT) had revealed the illegal transfer of nearly 68,000 acres of government land in the district, including 20,000 acres in Chas alone. Fraudulent mutations using forged documents and manipulated genealogies had allowed land mafias to convert tribal and forest lands into residential and industrial plots.
ED Joins the Chase: Raids and Seizures
The gravity of the scam escalated in April 2025, when ED teams raided 15–16 locations across Jharkhand and Bihar, including BSP offices, registrar offices, and private residences. The raids were tied to the suspicious sale of 103–117 acres of forest land in Tetulia Mouza. The ED flagged documents for 74.38 acres, allegedly backed by a forged 1933 British-era auction deed (Deed No. 191) and a fabricated will by one “Sameer Mahato.”
CID officials later found no registry records of the supposed 1933 auction deed or the genealogical trail claimed by the accused. This confirmed that the entire inheritance claim was forged.
During the ED operation, around ₹1.30 crore in cash was also recovered from financier Bir Agarwal of Banka, who is suspected to have funded the illegal land transactions via Rajbir Construction.
A Scam with High-Level Links
The arrests have sent ripples through Bokaro’s administrative machinery, with fears of deeper involvement by high-ranking government and BSP officials. Investigators suspect the scam could be part of a wider network of white-collar land laundering operations across multiple districts.
As the CID and ED tighten their grip, the forest land scam in Bokaro is shaping up to be one of Jharkhand’s most high-profile land corruption cases in recent years.
