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Jharkhand HC exempts CM Hemant Soren from physical appearance in ED summons case

RANCHI: In a major relief to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday exempted him from physical appearance in the MP-MLA Court in a case related to disobeying summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case was heard on merits by Justice Anil Chaudhary, who disposed of the petition. Earlier, on November 25, Soren had been asked to appear personally after the Jharkhand High Court vacated an interim order issued on December 4, 2024, which had exempted him from personal appearance before the Ranchi MP/MLA court. The High Court had vacated the interim order and directed the Ranchi MP/MLA Court to continue the trial process and proceed with the case. This decision has brought significant relief to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who will not have to be physically present in the court during the hearing. Senior advocate Arunav Chaudhary and advocate Dipankar Rai appeared on behalf of the Chief Minister. Notably, the Chief Minister had filed a petition seeking exemption from personal appearance against the courts order, but the lower court had rejected it. Challenging this order, Soren filed a petition in the High Court seeking dismissal of the case pending in the lower court. The High Court had then stayed the lower courts order requiring the Chief Minister to appear, which was later vacated on November 25. The case was subsequently heard on merits and disposed of on Wednesday. Earlier, the complaint was filed by the ED against Soren on February 20 for disobeying summons in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. On June 3, the case was transferred to the MP-MLA Court. Taking cognisance of the case on March 4, 2025, the court had observed prima facie that Soren had disobeyed the summons. According to the ED, 10 summons had been issued to Hemant Soren in a money laundering case linked to a land scam, but he appeared before the agency only twice, on January 20 and 31. The agency stated that Soren had disregarded ED summons eight times. After skipping ED summons for the eighth time in the land scam case, Hemant Soren, for the first time, agreed to join the probe and was questioned by ED at his residence in Ranchi on January 20 for more than seven hours. Later, on January 27, the ED sent a letter to CM Hemant Soren, asking him to decide a time and place for questioning either on January 29 or 31. The letter stated that if Soren did not decide, ED officials would come to his official residence for questioning. Soren agreed for the second questioning on January 31 after the tenth summons. The ED finally arrested Soren on January 31, 2024, after he avoided officials and disappeared from his Delhi residence on January 29. Soren remained untraceable for about 40 hours before resurfacing in Ranchi on the day of his arrest.

3 Dec 2025 6:58 pm