RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday urged the Jharkhand High Court to hand over the investigation of the case, registered by former CM Hemant Soren against its officials, to the CBI.
In his FIR registered under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Soren had charged the ED officials with harassing him for being a tribal. The case is presently being investigated by Jharkhand Police after the Soren filed the FIR at the SC/ST Police Station in Ranchi hours before his arrest by ED on January 31.
Soren in his FIR had alleged that the ED conducted the searches at his residence at Shantiniketan and Jharkhand Bhawan on January 27 to tarnish his image. The ED team, during their search at Soren’s Delhi residence, claimed to have seized `36 lakh, an SUV, and several “incriminating” documents in connection to a money laundering case linked to an alleged land deal in Jharkhand.
The High Court, however, has ordered no coercive action against the ED officials in the case while hearing a quashing petition filed by the ED.
The ED contended that the case was filed by Soren with an intention to disrupt the ongoing money laundering probe linked to the alleged land-grabbing by Soren and his accomplices.
The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Soren and four others in the Ranchi PMLA Court on March 30, cited the SC/ST case as misconduct on the part of Soren. It pointed out that “Soren filed a false and vexatious complaint against the ED officers who conducted a search at his Delhi residence.”
The registration of the FIR shows Soren’s misuse of state machinery to threaten the officials involved in the investigation, it added. The ED pointed out in its charge sheet, “It is apparent that Hemant Soren, out of vengeance, lodged the FIR on a frivolous complaint and further managed to get notices issued to the ED officials in a bid to impede the investigation against him.”