The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Jharkhand High Court’s decision to grant bail to Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren in a money laundering case.
Soren is accused of illegally acquiring 8.5 acres of land in Baragain Circle, Ranchi, and laundering the proceeds while presenting the property as legitimate.
Despite these accusations, the High Court granted Soren bail on June 28, concluding there was “reason to believe” he was not guilty of money laundering linked to the alleged land scam.
Single-judge Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay of the High Court noted that the ED’s claim of preventing Soren and others from acquiring the land seemed vague, as other witnesses alleged the land had already been acquired by Soren.
“The claim of the Enforcement Directorate that its timely action had prevented the illegal acquisition of the land by forging and manipulating the records seems to be an ambiguous statement when considered in the backdrop of the allegation that the land was already acquired and possessed by the petitioner as per some of the statements recorded under Section 50 PMLA, 2002, and that too from the year 2010 onwards,” the Court said.
The Court also pointed out that no registers or revenue records showed any evidence of Soren’s direct involvement in acquiring and possessing the land.
Moreover, the Court noted that no one aggrieved by the alleged acquisition had filed a complaint with the police, especially since Soren was not in power in Jharkhand during the relevant period.
“There was no reason for the purported oustees from the land in question not to have approached the authorities for redressal of their grievance if at all the petitioner had acquired and possessed the said land when the petitioner was not in power,” the Court stated.
Thus, the Court concluded that the conditions for granting bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were satisfied in this case.
Soren had resigned as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on January 31 following his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case related to the “illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in the state. During his time in jail, JMM leader Champai Soren served as Chief Minister.
After securing bail, Soren was once again sworn in as Chief Minister on July 4.
