Land scam case: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been remanded to judicial custody by a special PMLA court in Ranchi on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president was previously in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Judicial custody till February 22
"Hemant Soren was produced before the special PMLA court today and he was remanded to judicial custody till February 22. We will file a bail application for him," said Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared for the former chief minister.
Soren has been taken to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi from the court.
Soren was arrested on the night of January 31 after a seven-hour grilling by the ED in the money laundering case. Earlier, the ED claimed it had recovered cash in excess of Rs 36 lakh from the possession of the JMM chief, along with documents linked to the ongoing investigation into the alleged acquisition of land by 'fraudulent means'.
On February 2, the court granted five days of ED custody to Soren and extended it twice for seven days in total.
Case against Soren
The agency added that land parcels spanning 8.5 acres were part of the criminal proceeds that the former CM allegedly acquired. ED stated that in a raid conducted on April 13, 2023, they unearthed several property-related records and registers that were in the possession of Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad.
It informed further that the probe further revealed that Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others are part of a "very large syndicate involved in corrupt practices of acquiring properties forcefully as well as on the basis of false deeds. The probe pertains to proceeds of crime generated by allegedly forging official records by showing 'fake sellers' and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores.
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