jharkhand-hc-grants-bail-to-former-cm-hemant-soren

In a significant relief for former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted him regular bail in a land scam case. After hearing arguments from both sides on June 13, Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay reserved the order, which was announced on Friday.

 

Soren has been in judicial custody since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the alleged land scam.

 

Following the rejection of his interim bail plea and withdrawal of his petition from the Supreme Court, Soren had approached the Jharkhand High Court for regular bail.

 

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, had argued against granting him bail, claiming that Soren was the primary beneficiary of the scam. Raju had alleged that Soren illegally occupied 8.86 acres of land in the Bargain area in Ranchi, constituting money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

 

He contended that Soren, being influential, could misuse state machinery to obstruct the investigation if released on bail.

 

Raju had further alleged that there were plans to build a banquet hall on the disputed land, and a map had been sent to Soren's phone by Architect Vinod Singh. He also mentioned that Singh conducted a survey of the land at the behest of Soren’s media advisor, Abhishek Prasad ‘Pintu’.

 

Additionally, Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad admitted in his statement that he provided a detailed report on the land following instructions

from the Chief Minister's Office, and Hillarius Kacchap assisted Soren in illegally occupying the land.

 

On the other hand, Advocate Meenakshi Arora, representing Soren, had argued that the case was not about money laundering but rather a political vendetta and malicious prosecution by the central government misusing the ED.

 

She had contended that the allegations about planning a banquet hall did not pertain to the 8.86 acres of land for which Soren was being prosecuted. Arora had emphasised that the investigation was still ongoing and urged the court to grant bail without delving into the merits of the case at this stage.

 

The ED is investigating alleged large-scale proceeds of crime generated through manipulation of official records, involving dummy sellers and purchasers using forged documents to acquire valuable land.

 

So far, the ED has provisionally attached land parcels worth Rs 266 crore and arrested 22 individuals, including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Prem Prakash, in connection with the money laundering case linked to the land scam.