After evading her arrest for over six months, the ruling JMM MlA and daughter in- law of party chief Shibu Soren, Sita Soren, finally surrendered before the special CBI court on Tuesday.
Sita, an accused in the Rajya Sabha cash-for-vote case of 2012, submitted to the process of law as her anticipatory bail was rejected by the Jharkhand High Court last week. The court had directed her to surrender within one week. She has been sent to the judicial custody for five days. “As per the High Court’s direction to surrender before the court within seven days, Sita Soren on Tuesday surrendered before the Special CBI court of RK Chaudhary,” said her advocate, Bishwajeet Mukherjee.
According to Mukherjee, she had also given an undertaking before the CBI court that she will surrender if not granted an anticipatory bail by the High Court, he added.“Next hearing in this case will be on March 1,” Mukherjee said.
Sita Soren, sister in-law of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, had been evading her arrest for more than six months after an arrest warrant was issued by the designated CBI court on August 5 last year.
Soren has been facing CBI probe in the horse-trading case and has also been chargesheeted by the CBI along with five others, including Independent candidates RK Agrawal, Pawan Kumar Dhoot, Sunil Maheswari, her father BM Majhi and her former aide Rajendra Mandal in June last year.
Sita Soren had allegedly received heavy amount of cash from Independent candidate RK Agrawal to cast her vote in his favour during the Rajya Sabha election-2012. She has been charged under Sections13 (2) and 13(1) (D) of Prevention of Corruption Act as well as Sections 120B and 171E of IPC.
She also happens to be a named accused in a case of abduction of her former aide Vikas Pandey, who was also a prime witness in the horse-trading case. After being in hiding for a couple of months, she dramatically made a surprise appearance in the Jharkhand Assembly to cast her vote during the trust vote moved by her brother-in-law and Chief Minister Hemant Soren on July 18 last year.
The CBI on February 19 had already attached her property after the Supreme Court questioned the role of the investigating agency in not apprehending her.
The Election Commission of India had scrapped the polls after the seizure of Rs 2.15 crore from a vehicle in Ranchi on March 30, 2012 — the polling day, a few hours ahead of the polls, which allegedly belonged to one of Agrawal’s kin. Agrawal, an industrialist, was also in the fray as an Independent in the countermanded RS polls. The polls were held afresh on May 3 that year.