The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed criminal proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate against Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is accused of wilfully refusing to appear before the agency despite multiple summonses in an alleged land scam, Live Law reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Soren challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s January 15 order refusing to quash the proceedings, PTI reported.
On Wednesday, the bench temporarily halted the proceedings and issued notice to the probe agency, asking it to respond within four weeks, ANI reported.
The central agency had filed a complaint against Soren before the MP-MLA court in Ranchi, alleging that he failed to appear despite multiple summonses issued to him in connection with the alleged land scam.
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that ten summonses were issued to Soren, but he appeared only twice.
Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the case on January 31, 2024. This was shortly after he resigned as the chief minister after being questioned by the central law enforcement agency.
He was granted bail by the High Court on June 28, 2024 following which he became the chief minister again.
The case
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that a “racket of land mafia” in Jharkhand was involved in tampering with official land records in Ranchi and Kolkata. Some of the land acquired through the forgery had illegally come into Soren’s possession, the agency alleged.
The chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate on March 30 named Soren, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Raj Kumar Pahan, Hilariyas Kachhap and Binod Singh as the accused persons in the alleged land scam. The central agency has also attached 8.86 acres of land allegedly owned by Soren.
The prime accused in the case is Prasad, a former Jharkhand revenue department official and custodian of government records.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, Prasad was part of a syndicate that acquired properties using illegal means, including by using force and falsifying government records.
Prasad “hatched conspiracies” with Soren, among others, to take over properties, the central agency claimed. It claimed that details regarding the illegal acquiring and possession of properties were found on Prasad’s phone.
The central agency alleged that Soren acquired the land located at Baragain Anchal at Bariyatu Road in Ranchi through the proceeds of crime stemming from money-laundering. The agency also accused Soren of misusing his power and concealing evidence in the case after he was issued the first summons for questioning on August 7.
The chief minister denied the Enforcement Directorate’s allegations, claiming that he has no link to the property and no relation with Prasad.
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