Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren, who is currently in jail, has filed a petition before the High Court seeking bail.
Soren, arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on January 31 in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, has requested the Jharkhand High Court for an early hearing of the matter.
Hearing Scheduled
His petition has been listed for a hearing on Tuesday before the bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay.
The JMM leader argued before the court that his name does not appear in any of the documents regarding 8.5 acres of land in the Bargain circle, and no offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is made out against him. He also claimed that the ED was relying only on statements from some individuals who alleged the land parcel belonged to him, but there was “no document to back such statements.”
Details of Arrest and Charges
Soren resigned from the Chief Minister post before his arrest on January 31 and is now lodged in the Birsa Munda Jail at Hotwar in Ranchi, the state capital. He was accused of being instrumental in tampering with land documents for a plot in Bargain in Ranchi.
Soren argued that the owner of the land was Raj Kumar Pahan, who had complained to the Bargain Circle officer’s office that his land was being encroached upon by some persons. Pahan had not mentioned Hemant Soren’s name anywhere, yet the ED brought about a case claiming the land was in Soren’s possession, according to the petition.
Setback from Supreme Court
On May 22, Soren failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court, which criticized him for “suppressing material facts” in his plea against his arrest in the money laundering case linked to the alleged land scam.
A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed Soren’s counsel, Kapil Sibal, to withdraw the pleas for interim bail for Lok Sabha poll campaigning and against his arrest after the apex court indicated it would dismiss them, as Soren had not approached the court with clean hands.
The court noted that Soren did not inform it of the April 4 order of the special PMLA court taking cognizance of the prosecution complaint, and also that his regular bail petition was filed on April 15 and dismissed on May 13, 2024.
