Jharkhand HC reserves order on Hemant Soren's plea in Bargaain land fraud case

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on Chief Minister Hemant Soren's petition challenging a lower court order rejecting his discharge plea in the alleged 8.86-acre Bargaain land fraud case.

Soren's interim application sought a stay on the special PMLA court's June 8 order dismissing his discharge petition and a stay on the ongoing criminal proceedings until September 19.

The special PMLA court in Ranchi had held that a prima facie case existed against Soren based on the Enforcement Directorate's submissions and rejected his discharge plea.

Soren challenged the order in the High Court through a criminal revision petition seeking to quash the lower court's order and halt the trial proceedings.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the High Court reserved its order on the interim application.

The ED's special court has already framed charges against 14 accused in the Bargaain land case, including former Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Antu Tirkey, architect Vinod Kumar Singh, Tapas Ghosh, Shekhar Kushwaha, Mohammad Saddam Hussain, Afsar Ali, Mohammad Irshad Akhtar, Kumar Rajshree, Manoj Kumar Yadav, Priyaranjan Sahay, Vipin Singh, Vijendra Singh and Sanjit Kumar.

In his discharge petition, Soren argued that there was insufficient evidence against him and that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case for trial.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in the ownership and transfer of 8.86 acres of land in Ranchi's Bargaain circle, which the ED claims were used to facilitate money laundering.

The ED questioned Soren several times during the investigation and arrested him on January 31, 2024. He was later granted bail.

Soren and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have maintained that the action against him is politically motivated, while the ED has said its investigation is limited to alleged financial irregularities and money laundering linked to the land transactions.

The ED began its money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered at Bariatu police station in Ranchi against Pradip Bagchi on a complaint by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.

The agency said its investigation found an alleged land mafia racket in Jharkhand that forged land records in Kolkata and Ranchi. During 41 searches and five surveys, it seized forged seals of the land revenue department, forged land deeds, records related to the alleged distribution of proceeds of crime, photographs related to alleged forgery and documents linked to alleged bribery of government officials.