ED tells Jharkhand HC ex-CM Soren instrumental in acquiring land illegally

ED tells Jharkhand HC ex-CM Soren instrumental in acquiring land illegally

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday informed the Jharkhand High Court that ex-CM Hemant Soren had a key role in the unlawful occupation of land in the capital's Bargain.

ED's attorney, S V Raju, argued that Soren had purchased the land in 2009–2010 and that a boundary wall had been built to ensure its ownership.
In a money-laundering case connected to an alleged land fraud, Soren—who is also the executive president of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha—filed a petition for bail before the high court on May 27. The court had requested a response from ED on June 12. The hearing will continue on Thursday.

The federal agency had also carried out independent surveys of the property, and the caretaker had admitted to Soren's ownership of the land during questioning.

In addition, the ED claimed to have found other papers demonstrating the interpolation of land records in Soren's favor.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal of the Supreme Court argued on Monday in favor of the former chief minister being granted bail, claiming that the ED had wrongly accused the JMM leader of a crime.

Soren, who was arrested by the ED on January 31 in connection with the money-laundering case, had requested an early hearing from the high court.

Sibal previously said that Soren was not guilty of an offense under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, for which he was imprisoned, and that Soren had been falsely accused of usurping an 8.86-acre piece in Bargain.

ED has alleged that Soren forcibly evicted the original proprietors and manipulated land documents.
Sibal countered that the original landowners never complained or approached authorities when their land was allegedly taken. He noted that this act of forcible eviction is said to have occurred in 2009-10, but the report was only made in 2023.
Sibal had argued that even if all allegations against Soren were true, it would be a civil matter of forcible eviction, not a criminal case.
He had suggested that the criminal case was motivated by an ulterior motive to keep Soren behind the bars. He further claimed that the ED tampered with evidence and created false documents to implicate Soren.
The original landowner, Raj Kumar Pahan, has already filed for restoration of the land in his name, which is being processed.
Sibal had pleaded that the JMM leader was a victim of political conspiracy and had been implicated without evidence.
On May 22, Soren failed to get relief from the Supreme Court, which criticised him for "suppressing material facts" in his plea against arrest in the money laundering case.
A vacation bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed Soren's counsel Sibal to withdraw the pleas for interim bail for Lok Sabha poll campaigning and against his arrest after the apex court indicated that it would dismiss them as the JMM leader had not approached the court with clean hands.
The Supreme Court noted that Soren did not inform it of the April 4 order of the special PMLA court taking cognizance of the prosecution complaint and that his regular bail petition, filed on April 15, was dismissed on May 13.