Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren suffered a major legal setback today after a special PMLA court rejected his discharge petition in a money laundering case linked to 8.86 acres of land in Ranchi’s Badgai area. The court had earlier reserved its order after hearing arguments from both sides.
While delivering its verdict, the court said there were sufficient grounds and materials on record to proceed with the case. It ruled that the accused could not be discharged at this stage and dismissed Soren’s plea.
In his discharge petition, filed in December last year, Mr. Soren argued that the allegations were baseless and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. He also claimed that he had been unnecessarily implicated and that the ED had no concrete evidence against him. The ED opposed the plea, telling the court that the evidence and documents collected during the investigation were sufficient for the case to proceed to trial.
