The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi has sought a reply from the Enforcement Directorate after hearing the bail plea of jailed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The PMLA court of Ranchi directed ED to file its reply on the bail petition on Tuesday. The court will hear the matter on April 23.
The main accused in this case, former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the then Revenue Sub-Inspector of Bargain zone Bhanu Pratap are currently lodged in judicial custody in Hotwar jail. Three arrests have been made in this case including one Mohammad Saddam.
Soren had challenged the rights of ED by filing a writ petition in the Jharkhand High Court on 24 September 2023. The High Court rejected his petition and said that it was not worthy of hearing. Before that, Hemant Soren had gone to the Supreme Court and requested the Supreme Court to stay the ED notice. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi rejected his plea and refused to stay the ED notice.
After 10 summons and two sessions of interrogation by ED, Soren was finally arrested from CM's residence on January 31. He resigned from the CM’s post a couple of hours before his arrest.
The former Jharkhand CM was interrogated by ED for 13 days and recently the agency has also filed the charge sheet in the land scam case.
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