Hemant Soren Withdraws Plea From SC Against Jharkhand HC Order

The Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday has withdrew his plea from the Supreme Court, challenging a high court order that refused to grant him permission to attend the budget session of the state assembly.

Hemant Soren withdrew the plea as it become infructuous because assembly session has ended.

However, Soren’s counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal urged the court to keep the question of law open.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Vishwanathan agreed to keep the questions of law open over the issues been raised.

The court allowed Soren to withdraw his plea challenging Jharkhand HC order for letting him attend assembly sessions.

On February 28, the Jharkhand High Court dismissed Soren’s petition.

Soren approached the Apex Court against a High Court order. Earlier, the Special Court in Ranchi dismissed his petition on February 22.

Previously on January 31, Soren got arrested in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam under the PMLA by the Enforcement Directorate.

He tendered his resignation as CM to the Jharkhand Governor following his questioning by the ED in the alleged land scam case under the PMLA.

The ED claimed that it had recovered cash in excess of Rs.36 lakh from the possession of the JMM chief, along with documents linked to the investigation into the alleged acquisition of land by “fraudulent means”.

The agency added that, land parcels spanning 8.5 acre were part of the criminal proceeds that the former CM allegedly acquired.

The ED stated that in a raid conducted on April 13, 2023, they unearthed several property-related records & registers that were in the possession of Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad.

It was stated that Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others were part of a “very large syndicate involved in corrupt practices of acquiring properties forcefully as well as on the basis of false deeds.”

The agency stated in a release, “Considering the facts and circumstances and taking into consideration the activities and processes of money laundering in which Soren is directly involved and is also a party with the said Bhanu Pratap and others, there are sufficient reasons to believe that Soren is guilty of the offence of money laundering as per section 3 of PMLA 2002.”

The probe pertains to proceeds of crime generated by allegedly forging official records by showing “fake sellers” & purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores.