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Jharkhand: On Saturday, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chairperson and Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was denied interim bail by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in a land scam case in Ranchi.
The Chief Minister Soren had requested a 13-day interim bail from the court to attend his uncle’s funeral, who passed away earlier today, but the court rejected his plea.
Raja Ram Soren was the elder brother of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren. Earlier in the week, Soren had also approached the Supreme Court seeking relief against his arrest. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Hemant Soren, mentioned his plea challenging his arrest before a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
Sibal apprised the bench that the Jharkhand High Court had reserved the order on Soren’s petition challenging his arrest in the last week of February, but the judgment had not been delivered yet. He urged an urgent hearing due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and expressed concern that by the time the elections concluded, Soren would still be in custody.
In January this year, Hemant Soren was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the land scam case. The investigation relates to the offence committed in connection with the acquisition of huge amount of land worth crores of rupees by tampering with government records and showing ‘fake seller’ and ‘buyer’ on the basis of forged or fabricated documents.
