Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren faced a setback on Saturday as a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi denied his request for interim bail in a land scam case. This denial prevented him from attending the funeral of his uncle, Raja Ram Soren, who passed away earlier on the same day.
Hemant Soren had sought a 13-day interim bail from the court to attend his uncle's funeral. Raja Ram Soren was the elder brother of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren.
Earlier in the week, Hemant Soren had moved the Supreme Court seeking relief in the money laundering case. His plea challenging his arrest in the case was mentioned before a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna by senior advocate Kapil Sibal.
Sibal informed the bench that although the Jharkhand High Court had reserved its order on Soren's petition challenging his arrest in late February, the judgment had not yet been delivered. He also urged for an urgent hearing, citing the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and the likelihood of Soren remaining incarcerated even after the election concludes.
Hemant Soren was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in January this year in connection with the land scam case. The probe focuses on the alleged generation of substantial proceeds of crime through the forging of official records, involving fake sellers and purchasers using forged or bogus documents to acquire large parcels of land valued in crores.
