Jharkhand HC rejects Hemant Soren's plea to cancel ED summons

After Supreme Court, the Jharkhand High Court has now rejected Hemant Soren's petition to cancel ED summons in connection with a money laundering case. The court stated that ED can issue summons. ED has issued five summons to the CM in the last two months.

Ranchi:The Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected chief minister Hemant Soren's petition challenging issuance of summons to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case. The decision will pave the way for ED to interrogate Soren.

The case was heard in the division bench of High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Justice Anand Sen. On Soren's behalf, senior advocate Kapil Sibal presented the arguments through video conference while ED's lawyer argued that it was incorrect to challenge the summons issued by the ED.

After hearing both the sides, the high court cited the Supreme Court's Manohar Lal case saying ED can summon anyone and rejected the CM's petition.

Earlier, Soren had moved Supreme Court challenging the summons. The apex court rejected the plea but allowed Soren to approach the high court. Following which, Soren filed a petition in Jharkhand High Court on September 23 and its hearing was held today.

In his petition, Soren requested the court to declare Section 50 and 63 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) unconstitutional along with cancelling all the summons that had been issued to him in connection with the land scam case.

The fourth summon was issued on September 23, the same day when Soren approached the high court. After he failed to appear at ED office, a fifth summon was issued on September 26 and the CM was called for questioning on October 4, which too he skipped.

The ED had issued the first summon to Soren on August 14 in connection with the money laundering case. The second summon was issued on August 24 followed by the third summon on September 9.

Earlier, ED had summoned Soren in connection with the illegal mining case. Soren had attended the ED office for questioning and submitted documents related to his property and assets.