'Not Inclined To Interfere': SC Junks ED Plea Against Bail Granted To Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren

The Supreme Court has junked a plea by Enforcement Directorate against the Jharkhand High Court order, which granted bail to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case in connection with an alleged land scam.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday junked a plea by Enforcement Directorate against the Jharkhand High Court order, which granted bail to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case in connection with an alleged land scam.

Additional solicitor general S V Raju represented ED before a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan. Raju argued that the high court was not correct in not believing the statements of the witnesses recorded by the central agency under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. However, the bench observed that the high court order granting relief to Soren appears to be “very-well reasoned”.

The bench asked the ED to bring on record the nexus between Soren and the original entrant: according to ED the mutation was done for some other person, Raj Kumar Pahan. The bench asked the ED to show something more concrete in the case and, on Raju’s contention that the high court did not consider witness statements, added that the high court had given valid reasons for it.

The bench made it clear to the central agency that it is not keen to entertain its plea against the high court order. "We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order," the bench said, adding that a very well-reasoned judgment has been rendered by the high court judge.

The bench clarified that the observations made by the single judge of the high court would not influence the trial judge in trial or any other proceedings.

Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was arrested on January 31. He had resigned as chief minister shortly before the ED arrested him on January 31 in the case. After coming out of jail on bail in the case, he returned as the chief minister of Jharkhand on July 4.

ED had alleged that Soren took advantage of his position as the chief minister to "unlawfully" acquire 8.86 acres of land in the Bargain area in the state capital Ranchi. Soren has maintained that he was falsely implicated in the criminal case by ED.

The ED had claimed that Soren's media consultant Abhishek Prasad admitted that he had instructed him to manipulate official records to change the ownership details of the plot and the original owner of the land, Raj Kumar Pahan, had tried to lodge a complaint about his land being usurped but it was never acted upon.