The Jharkhand High Court on Friday asked Chief Minister Hemant Soren to rectify the “defects” in his petition challenging the issuance of summons to him by the ED in a case of alleged money laundering.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen listed the matter on October 11 for further hearing. The court asked Soren’s counsel to correct errors in the petition which was filed on September 23. Soren’s move came days after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his plea against the summons.
Previously on September 18, a bench comprising of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi granted the chief minister the liberty to approach the Jharkhand High Court for relief in the matter. Soren in his petition urged the high court to stay the summons issued to him by the ED. He also questioned the jurisdiction of the investigating agency for sending summons to him.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president also alleged that the political vendetta is one of the reasons for being heckled by ED. ED sent summons to Soren to depose at the federal agency’s office in Ranchi on August 14 and later to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Also, he skipped ED’s summons in an alleged defence land scam case citing pre-scheduled events. Soren was asked by the agency to appear in its office which he skipped 4 times. Sources stated, the ED intends to question the chief minister with regards to land scams running into crores involving the land mafia, senior bureaucrats and politicians.
The 48-year-old JMM leader was interrogated for over 9 hours by the ED on November 17 last year in connection with another money-laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state.
The central probe agency is investigating more than a dozen land deals, including one related to defence land, wherein a group of mafia, middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly connived to forge deeds and documents dating as long back as 1932.
ED has arrested several people so far in the state, including Soren’s political aide Pankaj Mishra. Soren was initially summoned by the ED on November 3, 2022, but he didn’t appear citing official engagements.