THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, June 13: The Jharkhand High Court today reserved its order on a petition filed by former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, arrested by the ED, in the alleged land scam, after hearing spirited arguments placed by lawyers of both sides for three days.
During the hearing, Hemant Soren’s wife and Gandey’s newly elected MLA Kalpana Soren was also present in the courtroom.
ED opposes bail plea
Opposing his bail plea, senior advocate SV Raju, arguing on behalf of ED, told the court that false cases were registered against ED officials at the behest of Hemant Soren.
“Hemant Soren is the biggest beneficiary of the land scam, so he should not be granted bail,” he argued.
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Meenakshi Arora appears for Hemant Soren
On the other hand, senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, on behalf of Hemant Soren, brushed aside the arguments of the ED and said that the investigation of the case registered in Sadar police station is still pending. “We are merely seeking bail. There is no need to go into the merits of the case at the moment,” she argued.
“The PMLA court has taken cognizance of the ED’s chargesheet. We have filed a bail petition under the changed circumstances under the provisions contained in the law,” she said.
Arora further argued that Hemant Soren’s name was not mentioned anywhere in the documents recovered from revenue department official Bhanu Pratap. “Not a single piece of the land being talked about is in Hemant Soren’s name. Hemant Soren was born in the year 1975 and the purchase and sale of this land was done around 1970. The company that made the map of the banquet hall does not have the name of any client. So, the ED’s case is completely baseless,” she said.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal had defended Hemant Soren on day one of the hearing.
After hearing both the parties, a bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay reserved its decision.
Notably, Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31 in the money laundering case. At least 10 persons, including Afsar Ali, JMM leader Antu Tirkey, Priyaranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh and Irshad, have also been arrested in the case. Incidentally, the special court (PMLA) took cognizance of the chargesheet filed against these 10 persons today.
Also Read- Ranchi Land Scam: Court takes notice of ED chargesheet against JMM leader Antu Tirkey, 9 others
