In a setback for Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the High Court today allowed the trial to proceed in a case related to the defiance of summonses issued by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged land scam. 

 

A single-judge Bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary dismissed Soren’s petition seeking to quash the proceedings pending before the MP-MLA special court. However, the High Court granted him an exemption from personal appearance before the court.

 

The MP-MLA court had initiated judicial proceedings after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the ED. Challenging this, Mr Soren had approached the High Court seeking dismissal of the case.

 

The ED had filed its complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in February 2024, alleging that Mr Soren repeatedly failed to comply with summonses issued for questioning in connection with the alleged land scam related to Ranchi’s Bargain circle.

 

Challenging the cognisance order, Soren contended before the High Court that he had submitted written replies to the ED for the summonses he could not attend and had appeared in response to fresh notices after earlier summonses had lapsed.