Land-Grab Case: Hemant Soren, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, has been summoned by a Ranchi court to appear before it next month. The court holds Soren prima facie guilty of ignoring notices issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering investigation connected to a purported land grab case. Recently, the Central agency filed a complaint against the senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, saying he had failed to join the investigation under seven summonses issued to him, the first being on August 14, 2023. 

In its complaint, the ED said the JMM leader should be prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code's section 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant). Soren was arrested on the night of January 31 after a seven-hour grilling by the ED in the money laundering case. JMM leader resigned as the chief minister before he was arrested. The inquiry against Soren, who is under judicial custody at present, is related to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand.

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"From the contents of the complainant (ED) and the material placed on record, prima facie offence under section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceedings under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, against accused Hemant Soren," the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Krishna Kant Mishra said in its order issued on Monday, news agency PTI reported. "Office is directed to issue summons for appearance of an accused person," the court said and fixed April 3 as the date of appearance of Soren before it.

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a complaint against Soren alleging that he "intentionally omitted to obey the summons and to attend at the place and time mentioned in the summons", thereby causing him to violate the summonses issued by the investigation officer under Section 50(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED has filed a similar complaint against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal before a Delhi court for allegedly disobeying the agency's summons three times. So far, eight summons have been issued to Kejriwal and he has not disposed, calling these notices illegal. The matter is listed for the next hearing on March 16.

(With Agency Inputs)