Ranchi court summons Hemant Soren for disobeying ED notices in land grab case
RANCHI: A Ranchi court has summoned former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren next month holding him prima facie guilty of disobeying notices issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering probe linked to an alleged land grab case.
During the hearing on last Monday, the court taking cognizance of the case had observed prima facie that Soren has disobeyed the summons.
ED in its complaint has stated that it had issued 10 summons to Hemant Soren in the money laundering case linked to a land scam, out of which he appeared before the ED only twice.
According to the agency, Soren had disregarded the ED summons.
The complaint has been filed under Section 63 of PMLA and Section 174 of IPC against Soren for disobeying the summons. The complaint was filed on February 20 under Section 63 of PMLA and Section 174 of IPC against Soren for disobeying the summons.
The court has fixed April 3 for next hearing in the case during which Hemant Soren has been asked to present his side before the court.
Interestingly, during the examination of Binod Kumar Singh's two mobile phones, WhatsApp conversations came to light, revealing that Hemant Soren's aide was involved in the illegal acquisition of 8.5 acres of land for the construction of a banquet hall.
In a 13 page remand note submitted before the Special PMLA Court in Ranchi, ED said that a plan/map of proposed banquet was shared by Binod Singh to Hemant Soren on April 06, 2021 on his mobile phone.
Notably, the ED had issued the first summon to Hemant Soren in August 2023 in the land scam-related case and had asked to appear before it on August 14.
After that, the agency sent 9 summons to him but he appeared only twice before the agency on January 20 and January 31, 2024. After skipping ED summons for the eighth time in a land scam case, Hemant Soren for the first time agreed to join the probe, following which, he was questioned by ED at his residence in Ranchi on January 20 for more than 7 hours.
Later on January 27, ED had sent a letter to CM Hemant Soren once again, asking him to decide time and place for questioning either on January 29 or 31. ED through its letter had asked Soren to decide any time and place from January 29 -31; otherwise, they would come to his official residence for questioning.
Soren after the tenth summon, once again, had agreed for questioning for the second time on January 31.
ED finally arrested Soren on January 31, 2024, after he duped ED officials and disappeared from his Delhi residence on January 29. Soren remained traceless for about 40 hours after he disappeared from Delhi and suddenly surfaced in Ranchi on the day of his arrest.