Big haul: ED recovers Rs 36 lakh, 8.5-acre land parcels from Hemant Soren’s premises

Big haul: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM executive president Hemant Soren has been produced in the PMLA Court from the ED office in Ranchi.

Soren was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case related to the alleged land scam on Wednesday night.      

Meanwhile, sharing the details about the arrest of Hemant Soren, Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that Hemant Soren has been arrested on grounds related to the alleged acquisition of land through fraudulent means. The ED revealed on that during the arrest, cash exceeding Rs 36 lakh was seised from the possession of the JMM chief, along with documents linked to the ongoing investigation.

The central probe agency disclosed that the former CM allegedly acquired land parcels spanning 8.5 acres, which were identified as criminal proceeds. The arrest was made under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

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Providing additional information about the arrest, the ED, in an official statement, mentioned that during a raid conducted on April 13, 2023, they discovered various property-related records and registers in the possession of Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad.

The details of the properties, which are illegally acquired and possessed by Soren have also been recovered from the mobile phone of Bhanu Pratap Prasad," the ED alleged.

The agency added that the list of 12 landed properties which are adjacently situated and altogether make up a very big property of an area of about 8 decimals, was recovered from Bhanu Pratap's mobile phone.

"The photo of the above-mentioned list of landed properties also bears certain hand-written remarks made by Bhanu Pratap, after he had made verification of those parcels of land," the ED informed, adding, "Investigation has revealed that this property is and has been illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren."

Following a mysterious period during which the JMM chief, Hemant Soren, was reportedly unreachable, he was ultimately arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after multiple summonses related to the land 'scam' case. This arrest came after several hours of questioning on Wednesday night, during which the former Chief Minister was pictured holding a meeting at his official residence.

Soren moved to the Supreme Court challenging his arrest, alleging that the central agency had abused its powers and "acted in a malafide manner to destabilise a democratically elected government in Jharkhand."

The petition, filed through advocate Pragya Baghel, sought an urgent hearing, and after Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal brought it to the Supreme Court's attention on Thursday morning, the top court agreed to list it for hearing on Friday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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