RANCHI: In a major setback for Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by him seeking quashing of the complaint case related to disobeying summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The court made it clear that it was not inclined to interfere in the matter at this stage.
Soren had challenged the proceedings and cognisance taken by the MP-MLA court and sought dismissal of the case. Consequently, the petition was rejected.
With the High Court refusing to intervene, the proceedings in the MP-MLA Special Court will now continue. The case is primarily linked to the alleged illegal acquisition of around 8.5 acres of land in Ranchi’s Bargain area and related money laundering charges.
The complaint was filed by the ED against Soren in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on February 20, 2025, for disobeying summons, and was transferred to the MP-MLA court on June 3. Taking cognisance of the case on March 4, the court had observed that, prima facie, Soren had disobeyed the summons.
In its complaint, the ED stated that it had issued 10 summons to Hemant Soren in the money laundering case linked to the land scam, but he appeared before the agency only twice, on January 20 and 31. According to the ED, Soren disregarded the summons on eight occasions.
After skipping the ED summons for the eighth time in the land scam case, Soren agreed to join the probe for the first time and was questioned at his Ranchi residence on January 20 for over seven hours.
Later, on January 27, the ED sent another letter to the Chief Minister, asking him to decide the time and place for questioning on either January 29 or 31. The agency said that if he failed to do so, officials would come to his official residence for questioning.
After the tenth summons, Soren again agreed to appear and was questioned for the second time on January 31.
The ED finally arrested Soren on January 31, 2024, after he allegedly evaded officials and disappeared from his Delhi residence on January 29. He remained untraceable for about 40 hours before resurfacing in Ranchi on the day of his arrest.