The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by the Directorate Enforcement (ED) challenging a Jharkhand High Court order that granted bail to Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam.
A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan stated that the high court’s June 28 order was “very well reasoned.”
“We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order,” the bench remarked.
Hemant Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), had resigned as chief minister shortly before the ED arrested him on January 31 in connection with the case. Following his release on bail, he resumed his position as the chief minister of Jharkhand on July 4.
The ED opposed Soren’s bail plea in the high court, alleging that he had misused his position to “unlawfully” acquire 8.86 acres of land in the Bargain area of Ranchi, the state capital. Soren’s lawyer argued that he was falsely implicated in the criminal case by the central agency.
The central probe agency claimed that during the investigation, Soren’s media consultant, Abhishek Prasad, admitted that the JMM leader had instructed him to manipulate official records to alter the ownership details of the plot. The agency also alleged that the original owner of the land, Raj Kumar Pahan, had attempted to file a complaint about the land being usurped, but no action was taken.
Hemant Soren was summoned multiple times by the ED before being questioned at his residence and subsequently arrested on January 31 this year.
