Jharkhand High Court Grants Bail To Former CM Hemant Soren In Alleged Money Laundering Case Involving Illegal Land Possession

The Jharkhand High Court has granted bail to former Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday in an alleged money laundering case involving the illegal possession of 8.36 acres of land.

The Court observed that there was no evidence directly linking Soren to the possession of the land in question and that the ED's statements that their intervention prevented illegal possession of the land were ambiguous.

The Court further observed that in this case, the twin conditions under Section 45 of the PMLA had been satisfied and hence Soren had to be released.

The bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay observed in the order : 

"The overall conspectus of the case based on broad probabilities does not specifically or indirectly assign the petitioner to be involved in the acquisition and possession as well as concealment of 8.86 acres of land at Shanti Nagar, Baragain, Ranchi connected to the “proceeds of crime”. None of the registers/revenue records bare imprint of the direct involvement of the petitioner in the acquisition and possession of the said land...

The consequence of the findings recorded by this Court satisfies the condition as at Section 45 PMLA, 2002 to the effect that there is “reason to believe” that the petitioner is not guilty of the offence as alleged."