The apex court on Friday, May 10, disposes of a petition from Jharkhand’s former Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with a money laundering case. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC), while disposing of the plea, calls it infructuous.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Dutta and Sanjiv Khanna disposed of Soren’s petition challenging arrest by ED after Jharkhand’s High Court delivered its verdict on the same on May 3. The bench said the petition had become infructuous.
Soren had moved to the SC seeking directives in the High Court’s delay in pronouncing the judgement in connection with a money laundering case. The apex court on April 29 issued notices on Soren’s plea while stating that it would be open to the HC to deliver the verdict before the next hearing of the matter.
On May 3, the Jharkhand High Court dismissed Soren’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Land Scam. The High Court had earlier reserved its verdict on February 28 of this year. After the verdict, Soren filed a fresh Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the SC, challenging the HC’s order.
Appearing for Soren, senior advocate Kapil Sibal requested the court to not treat the petition as infructuous, citing that the ED will seek more time for its response in the new petition, causing delay, to which the bench said that all pleas and contentions can be raised in the SLP filed which will be heard on Monday, May 13.
It must be noted that Soren was arrested by the ED in connection with the money laundering case linked to alleged land scam on January 31 this year. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chairperson is currently lodged at the Birsa Munda Hotwar jail in judicial custody. Significantly, following Soren’s arrest party loyalist Champai Soren was sworn in as his replacement for the post of Chief Minister.
It is worth mentioning here that earlier, the ED submitted a 5,500-page complaint before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi in connection with the alleged land scam on March 30. Earlier, the central probe agency had also attached 8.5 acres of land in connection with the case.
The ED also claimed to recover cash over Rs 36 lakh from the possession of the JMM leader, along with documents linked to the investigation into the alleged acquisition of land through ‘fraudulent means’.
It is to be noted that the ED is also investigating a money laundering case linked to illegal stone mining at Nimbu Pahadi of Sahibganj, in which proceed of crime worth Rs1000 crore were illegally generated, as claimed by the ED. The agency has identified Pankaj Mishra, an MLA representative of the former CM Soren, as a key accused in the case.
Fresh developments in the case
Meanwhile, intensifying its investigation into the case, the ED nabbed as many as three accused in connection with the case on Thursday evening. According to the reports, the sleuths of the agency arrested Tapan Ghosh, a staff of the Kolkata registrar’s office, a housekeeping staff, Sanjit along with Irshad Akhtar, an employee of the Hazaribagh court.
The trio was arrested after officials of the agency grilled them in connection with the case on Thursday evening. Earlier, the trio was summoned by the agency for an inquiry at the zonal office of the agency at Ranchi.
According to the reports, Irshad Akhtar has been alleged by the agency for writing fake deeds for which he has received Rs8 lakh from Afsar Ali and Saddam who are already lodged in jail in connection with the scam. The other two arrested, Tapan Ghosh and Sanjit Kumar have been alleged by the agency for making the records disappear from Kolkata’s office.
