The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday issued notices to Home Secretary NN Pandey and DGP Rajiv Kumar questioning the disappearance of former Minister Nalin Soren from JAP-I ground after he paid last tribute to the slain Pakur SP Amarjeet Balihar. The court also asked why Soren was not arrested soon after he left the JAP premises.
"The court of Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya Roy took a suo motu cognizance of the incident and asked the DGP and the Home Secretary how Soren managed to escape from JAP-I ground. It also asked under what circumstances Soren was not arrested as soon as he left the place after paying tribute to Balihar," said advocate Rajiv Kumar. "Both have been asked by the court to file reply till July 16," said Kumar.
According to Kumar, the court took cognizance on the basis of the photographs published in a local newspaper and observed that if he could not be arrested then and there, he could at least have been followed by the police officials and arrested later. Soren is clearly seen with JMM chief Shibu Soren paying tribute to the slain Pakur SP on Wednesday.
Non-bailable warrant had been issued against Nalin Soren and nine others by the vigilance court in connection with the multi-crore seed scam during the Madhu Koda government in 2007.
The court of Justice DN Patel and Justice S Chandrashekhar had also criticised the State earlier for shielding absconding officers and politicians, including JMM MlA Nalin Soren, for allowing financial irregularities of Rs 45 crore while buying implements, vegetable seeds, fertilizers and pesticides far in excess of what was required during his tenures as Agriculture Minister between 2006 and 2008.
Nalin, who was Agriculture Minister in the governments of Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren during October 2006 -August 2008 and September 2008 - January 2009, respectively, had ordered the purchase of vegetable seeds, fertilizers, pesticides in quantities far in excess of what was needed. The seeds, allegedly bought from private firms like M/s Nefed and M/s Naramake, were later found to be of poor quality.
In February, the bureau had issued arrest warrants against Nalin and nine others, namely, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Anjani Kumar Mishra, Arun Kumar, Piyush Kujoor, Anil Kumar, Dinesh Prasad, Aniruddh Kumar, Ajeshwar Prasad Singh and Bhavesh Thakur.