Jharkhand High Court Grants Bail To Former CM Hemant Soren In Land Scam Case

RANCHI: Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren has been granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in a money laundering case linked to the land scam.

Soren's lawyer Arunabh Chowdhury claimed that the court did not find him guilty of the offence. On June 13, the high court had reserved its decision on Soren's bail plea.

"Bail has been granted to Soren. The court has held that prima facie he is not guilty of the offence and there is no likelihood of the petitioner committing an offence when on bail," he told PTI.

Hemant Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 and is currently imprisoned in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi.

His lawyer, senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, had argued before the court that her client was being unfairly targeted in what she described as a politically motivated and fabricated case.

On the flip-side, the ED accused him of misusing his position to acquire 8.86 acres of land in the state capital. The probe agency's counsel SV Raju claimed that Hemant Soren's involvement in the illegal land deal was confirmed by witnesses.

Kapil Sibal, who also fought Soren's case, had argued before the court that the alleged land grabbing did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

He further argued that even if the allegations were true, they would be a matter of civil dispute over property rights, not criminal activity. Sibal alleged that the criminal proceedings were driven by ulterior motives aimed at keeping Soren behind bars.

Notably, Hemant Soren resigned as the chief minister of Jharkhand before the ED arrested him. Following his resignation, Champai Soren, also from the JMM, became the chief minister of the state.

Meanwhile, the bail order comes just days after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail in the Delhi excise policy case. However, the ED later secured a stay on the bail order from the Delhi high court and the CBI later arrested him in connection with the same case.

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