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Jharkhand HC withdraws stay on CM Hemant Sorens exemption from appearing in MP/MLA court

RANCHI: In a setback to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday vacated the interim order issued on 4 December 2024, which had exempted him from personal appearance before the Ranchi MP/MLA Court in a case related to allegedly disobeying summonses issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Justice Anil Kumar Chaudhary also directed the Ranchi MP/MLA Court to continue the trial process and proceed with the case. During the hearing, the state government requested additional time and an extension of the interim relief. The High Court rejected the request and vacated the previously issued interim order. The Chief Minister had earlier filed a petition seeking exemption from personal appearance, but the lower court rejected it. Challenging this order, Soren approached the High Court, seeking dismissal of the case pending before the lower court. The High Court then stayed the lower courts direction requiring the Chief Minister to appear, a stay that has now been vacated. The complaint was initially filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrates court but was transferred to the MP/MLA Court on 3 June. The complaint, filed on 20 February, invoked Section 63 of the PMLA and Section 174 of the IPC against Soren for allegedly disobeying the EDs summonses. Taking cognisance of the case on 4 March 2024, the court observed prima facie that Soren had disobeyed the summonses. According to the EDs complaint, the agency issued 10 summonses to Hemant Soren in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He allegedly appeared before the ED only twice, on 20 January and 31 January 2024, and skipped the summonses on eight occasions. The ED had issued the first summons to Soren in August 2023, directing him to appear on 14 August. Thereafter, nine more summonses were sent, but he appeared only twice. After skipping the eighth summons in the land-scam case, Soren for the first time agreed to join the probe, following which he was questioned at his Ranchi residence on 20 January for more than seven hours. On 27 January, the ED sent another letter to the Chief Minister, asking him to decide the time and place for questioning on either 29 or 31 January. The letter stated that if he did not specify a time and place, ED officials would visit his official residence for questioning. After receiving the tenth summons, Soren once again agreed to appear, and he was questioned for the second time on 31 January. The ED finally arrested Soren on 31 January 2024 after he allegedly duped ED officials and disappeared from his Delhi residence on 29 January. He remained traceless for about 40 hours before suddenly appearing in Ranchi on the day of his arrest.