A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of Ranchi extended the judicial remand of former Jharkhand Chief Minister (CM), Hemant Soren, and others in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land grab by two weeks. The decision was pronounced by the court on May 30.
The accused in the case, including Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM’s) chairperson Soren, were produced before the court via video conferencing, after which the court extended the remand of the accused till June 13.
The development has occurred on the heels of Jharkhand’s High Court listing of Soren’s regular bail petition for hearing on June 10 on Tuesday. The High Court, during the hearing held on May 28, asked Enforcement Directorate to file its reply before the court on June 10.
This comes after the former CM filed a regular bail petition before the Jharkhand High Court on Monday, May 27 following the withdrawal of his petition for interim relief before the Supreme Court on May 22.
Earlier, Soren, through his council Kapil Sibal, had sought similar relief like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for campaigning in Lok Sabha elections, which the apex court refused, citing that for any interim relief, the petitioner needed to satisfy the court that the land claimed by the ED did not belong to Soren.
Alleged Land Grab Case
Notably, the ED is probing a case against former CM, Soren and others for allegedly grabbing 8.5 acres of land of Badgain circle through fraudulent means.
The agency, during its probe into the case, has alleged that huge amount of proceed of crime were generated through manipulations of official records involving fictitious transactions and forged documents to acquire valuable lands worth crores of rupees in the scam.
Significantly, ED had filed a prosecution complaint against Soren and four others before a special PMLA court in connection with the case in April this year.
ED, Ranchi has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against Hemant Soren & four othersin one of the cases of land scam being investigated under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, for acquiring, possessing and concealing the proceeds of crime in the nature of an immovable property…
— ED (@dir_ed) April 4, 2024
In its complaint, the agency accused the persons named in the complaint for allegedly acquiring, possessing and concealing the proceeds of crime in the nature of an immovable property measuring 8.8 acres at Bariyatu of Ranchi. The case is being investigated under the PMLA, 2002.
It is noteworthy that the ED arrested Soren after hours of questioning in connection with the case on January 31 this year. Following Soren’s arrest by the ED, senior leader from the party, Champai Soren, was sworn in as the new CM of the state on February 2 this year.
