Ranchi, 16 January (H.S.): The Jharkhand High Court remarked on Friday that a recent state police incursion into the Enforcement Directorate's Ranchi office appeared prima facie preplanned, prompting directives for heightened security and a temporary halt to the ensuing investigation.

Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, adjudicating the ED's writ petition filed on Thursday, instructed the central agency to implead the Union Home Secretary as a respondent and ordered deployment of CRPF, BSF, or comparable paramilitary personnel to safeguard the ED premises and its functionaries.

The court further cautioned Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ranjan of personal accountability for any security breaches at the site .

The controversy erupted from an FIR lodged on January 12 at Airport Police Station by former Public Health Engineering Department employee Santosh Kumar, alleging assault by ED officials during interrogation in a Rs 23-crore embezzlement case—wherein the agency has already recouped Rs 9 crore.

Police arrived Thursday to seize CCTV footage and question personnel, an action the ED decried as obstructive interference in its ongoing money laundering inquiry under PMLA .

Staying the police probe against named ED officers, the bench mandated preservation of all relevant recordings and signalled deeper scrutiny into potential political motivations, amid accusations of evidence tampering risks tied to high-profile corruption probes implicating state figures . The matter awaits further hearings, underscoring federal-state frictions in Jharkhand's investigative landscape.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar