The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Ranchi on Thursday extended the judicial custody of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by fourteen days. Soren is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi on charges of money laundering through land scam.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren along with 11 other accused persons lodged in Jail in connection with money laundering scam were produced before the special court in Ranchi through video conferencing on Thursday following which, the court extended the judicial custody of all the accused persons for another 14 days. The Court asked these accused persons to be produced in court on July 11, till then they will be in jail.
Apart from Hemant Soren, suspended revenue sub-inspector of Bargai zone Bhanu Pratap, JMM leader Antu Tirkey, Md. Saddam, Md. Afsar Ali, Vipin Singh, Priyaranjan Sahay, Irshad Akhtar, Shekhar Kushwaha, Md. Irshad, two employees of Kolkata’s Registrar of Assurance Tapas Ghosh and Sanjit Kumar also appeared before the court through video conferencing arrested in connection with money laundering scam are in jail.
ED had arrested Hemant Soren on January 31 after several hours of interrogation. ED had arrested JMM leader Antu Tirkey, land businessman Bipin Singh, Priyaranjan Sahay, Mohd. Irshad after raids on April 15.
Md Afsar and Md Saddam, the mastermind of preparing fake documents, were arrested by ED on production remand.
The ED in March this year has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC), equivalent to a chargesheet, in the money laundering case linked to a land scam registered against former Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The 5,500-page-long PC contains detailed information about Hemant Soren and his associates who played a crucial role in the money laundering through the land scam.
Plan to attack ED officials in Ranchi
The central government has responded to a question asked in Parliament related to the attack on ED officials and criminal conspiracy. In the reply, it has been told that Prem Prakash, lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had conspired to attack the ED officials. He was arrested on 25 August 2022. Prem Prakash had planned to attack the ED investigating officer and implicate the officials in trivial cases.
In fact, Ranchi MP (now Minister of State for Defense) Sanjay Seth had asked questions related to the action of ED and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on 11 December 2023. The answer to the same has been sent by the then Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
The Finance Ministry has said in response that Prem Prakash had hatched a conspiracy on the strength of his high reach, including some officials, to influence the ongoing investigation against him. Investigations related to illegal mining and land scam are still going on against him.
