RANCHI: The Special PMLA Court in Ranchi on Saturday refused to grant interim bail to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, an accused in a money laundering case linked to a land scam.
Soren had filed an application seeking 13-day interim bail to attend his uncle’s funeral, but the court rejected his plea. Notably, Rajaram Soren -- elder brother of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren -- passed away this morning after a prolonged illness.
After being questioned for over seven hours, Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 from his residence and is currently under judicial custody. He is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.
On April 24, Soren moved the Supreme Court against the delay in issuing its order on his petition by Jharkhand High Court. The CM was arrested on January 31 after he resigned from the post.
In his petition, Soren has argued that the Jharkhand High Court reserved its decision on February 28 against his plea challenging his arrest by the ED. Even after 55 days, the court has not yet pronounced its judgment, forcing him to seek refuge in the top court. Citing the unprecedented delay in the High Court order, Soren has also sought interim bail from the Supreme Court.
The ED is probing the alleged “huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores”.
Meanwhile, the probe agency has provisionally attached tainted land parcels worth `266 crore (Commercial Value). It has arrested 22 accused persons, including former Soren, IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad (Revenue Sub-Inspector), Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Prem Prakash.
According to the ED, three prosecution complaints have been filed in the cases of land scams presently under investigation in the state. The ED is investigating the Ranchi land scam case based on the documents recovered from Bhanu Pratap’s house, one of the key accused in the land scam case.
According to the agency, several important documents related to land were found during the raid from the house of Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad of Badagain zone.
Land scam cases
The ED has provisionally attached tainted land parcels worth `266 crore (Commercial Value). It has arrested 22 accused persons, including former Soren, IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad (Revenue Sub-Inspector), Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Prem Prakash. Three prosecution complaints have been filed in the cases of land scams presently under investigation in the state.