Hemant Soren has 'illegal possession' of a dozen land parcels: ED

Arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has in “illegal possession, occupation and use” a dozen land parcels in Ranchi totally measuring about 8.5 acres, the Enforcement Directorate has said.

The earnings from these parcels are proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law, the ED has claimed.

Soren’s arrest

Soon after he resigned as chief minister, Soren was arrested by the ED on Wednesday (January 31) night. The agency questioned the 48-year-old JMM leader for over seven hours during the day.

The criminal case filed by the agency against Soren emerges from a June 2023 ECIR (FIR) following raids conducted against state government employee and revenue department sub-inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad at various locations in the state.

Property documents seized

The agency, as per official records, recovered 11 trunks holding voluminous property documents from Prasad's premises along with 17 original registers.

Prasad was a custodian of many original registers of land records and their ownership details of the state, the ED said.

It alleged that Prasad was "involved in the corrupt practices which included falsification of original records and had been a party with several other persons in their activities linked to the acquisition of landed properties in a fraudulent manner".

The ED shared this information with the Jharkhand government which registered a police FIR against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi on June 1, 2023.

The agency took cognisance of this FIR to file its ECIR on June 26 last year.

Prasad, the ED said, was "actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Hemant Soren".

These details were also recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad, it said.

During his personal search, the former chief minister "refused to remove" a religious locket and ring he was wearing, the ED said.

The agency said it recorded statements of several persons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and this established that 12 landed properties, adjoining each other, and measuring 8.5 acres in all were under "illegal acquisition, possession and use” of Soren and were kept concealed by the JMM leader.

Soren’s counter

Soren contended that the said land fell under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and it "cannot be transferred" and the special regulation officer in Ranchi had restored the possession of the land back to its original owner on January 29.

He asserted that documents recovered from someone's phone cannot be taken as "gospel truth" to implicate and arrest him.

The ED said it searched the residential premises of Soren in Delhi and seized Rs 36,34,500 cash from the cupboard of a room "under the use and occupation of Soren".

It said the 8.5-acre asset was a "proceeds of crime" which was in "unauthorised and illegal possession and use" of Soren.