A Ranchi court on Thursday sent former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to one-day judicial custody in a land scam case. Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday night following nearly seven-hour long questioning as part of its probe into the money laundering allegations.
The central agency had sought a 10-day custody of the Jharkhanf Mukti Morcha leader, but the special PMLA court reserved its order for Friday after hearing both sides.
The probe pertains to huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by forging official records by showing “fake sellers” and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land valued in crores.
The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case. The case against Soren pertains to the alleged illegal possession of certain immovable assets apart from his purported links with members of the ‘land mafia’.
The investigation is linked to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the central probe agency. The 48-year-old leader was previously questioned on January 20 in connection with the case.
On Monday, an ED team searched Hemant Soren’s residence in Delhi, and camped there for almost 13 hours in order to question him in the case. The agency claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some “incriminating” documents during the search.
