ED Moves High Court Seeking CBI Probe In Hemant Soren’s Case Against Its Officials

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly moved the Jharkhand High Court demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s First Information Report (FIR) lodged at Dhurwa police station against the central agency’s officers, NDTV reported. The then Chief Minister had lodged the FIR against the ED officials hours before his arrest in the alleged money laundering case associated with the land scam.

The Court would likely hear the central agency’s petition soon as the plea was already registered for hearing, Jharkhand State News reported quoting an anonymous lawyer. On January 31, Hemant Soren filed the case at Gonda police station, accusing four ED officials including the additional director Kapil Raj of several violations of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The other three ED officials include Deovrat Jha, Anupam Kumar and Aman Patel. Reportedly, there are a few more unnamed ED officials involved in the case.

The then-chief minister’s complaint came at a time when the speculations regarding the potential arrest of the then-chief minister by ED intensified. The allegations against Hemant Soren were that the land parcel was acquired through proceeds of crime involving the illegal sale of army land. However, Soren had dismissed the accusation as politically motivated. He had also said that the details of his assets were in the public domain.

Soren had also alleged that a raid by the central agency was carried out to harass and defame him and his community since he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe tribal community and the officials were non-tribal.

ED had also arrested several other key figures including 2011 batch Indian Administrative Service officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as director of the state’s social welfare department, deputy commissioner of Ranchi, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and businessmen Amit Agrawal and Bishnu Agrawal,

However, if the CBI’s investigation proves the former chief minister’s allegations to be false, he might face the charge of attempting to arrest ED officers on fake cases.