A special PMLA court on Monday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by three days in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. The probe agency had sought for four days of remand of the JMM leader.
The ED was asking for a four-day remand. They have no ground left for any further remand. They (ED) just want to buy time. They didn't have any new ground. They just want the case to be alive and stretch the remand period," Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, Soren's counsel, told reporters.
Soren's ED remand
Earlier on February 7, Soren was remanded to five days of ED custody by the special PMLA (the Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court. On February 2, the court had granted five days of ED remand to Soren.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Jharkhand adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by Soren against the ED till February 27. The court also asked the federal agency to file a consolidated affidavit.
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'.
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.
(With inputs from agencies)
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