Ranchi, December 3 – Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren received major relief from the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday in a case related to alleged contempt of summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the controversial army land scam. Justice Anil Kumar Chaudhary’s court granted him exemption from personal appearance in the trial court and disposed of his petition.
The trial court had directed Hemant Soren to appear personally on December 12 while hearing the case filed by the ED against him. Hemant Soren had challenged this order in the High Court. On Wednesday, the matter was heard on merit and the court disposed of the petition while granting exemption from personal appearance.
The ED had filed a complaint against Hemant Soren in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in February 2024. The agency alleged that he was sent multiple summons for questioning in the alleged land scam related to Bargain area in Ranchi. According to the ED, the first summons was sent on August 14, 2023. Subsequently, summons were sent on August 19, September 1, September 17, September 26, December 11, December 29 in 2023, and January 13, January 22, and January 27 in 2024.
A total of ten summons were issued, but Hemant Soren appeared personally only on two summons. The agency claims this violates Section 63 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The CJM court had taken cognizance of this complaint on March 4, 2024, after which the matter was transferred to the MP-MLA special court.
Hemant Soren had challenged the cognizance action in the High Court, stating that he had sent written replies to the ED for the summons on which he did not appear. After the old summons lapsed, he had appeared on fresh summons and complied with the agency’s directions. He argued that the ED had sent summons repeatedly without justification, motivated by malicious intent. Senior advocate Arunav Chaudhary and advocate Dipankar Roy presented arguments on behalf of the CM.
Daily Kiran/DKP
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