Special Judge Shyam Nandan Tiwari awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment to Enos Ekka, his wife, and several co-accused. Along with the prison term, fines have also been imposed.
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Former Jharkhand minister Enos Ekka, his wife Menon Ekka, and seven others have been sentenced by a special CBI court in Ranchi for illegally purchasing tribal land in violation of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act.
Special Judge Shyam Nandan Tiwari awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment to Enos Ekka, his wife, and several co-accused. Along with the prison term, fines have also been imposed. Failure to pay the penalty will attract an additional one-year jail term. Four other accused, including then Ranchi LRDC Kartik Kumar Prabhat, were sentenced to five years in prison.
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The case dates back 15 years. On August 29, the court convicted Ekka and others for acquiring tribal land worth over ₹1.18 crore in violation of Section 46 of the CNT Act. Another accused, Goverdhan Bedia, was acquitted for lack of evidence.
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The CBI had filed the FIR in August 2010 following a Jharkhand High Court directive, and submitted the chargesheet in December 2012. Charges were framed in November 2019.
Defence counsel Anil Kanth said the verdict would be challenged in the High Court.
Ekka, once a powerful independent legislator from Kolebira in Simdega, had served as a minister in the Madhu Koda government. He won assembly elections in 2005, 2009 and 2014, but his political career was derailed after facing multiple corruption and criminal cases.
In 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of para-teacher Manoj Kumar, though he was later released on bail. The Enforcement Directorate had also attached several of his assets in Ranchi, Simdega, Delhi and other states in connection with disproportionate assets cases.
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