Ranchi
On a day the JMM celebrates its 51st foundation day, legal developments involving its first family happened, be it in Delhi or in Ranchi.
While the Supreme Court on Monday delivered its landmark verdict in the Sita Soren vs Union of India case, the Jharkhand High Court stayed the FIR lodged by former Chief Minister Hemant Soren against Enforcement Directorate officials under the stringent SC/ST Act.
Sita Soren is the daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren while Hemant is the son of the JMM patriarch. Hemant’s wife Kalpana Murmu Soren has announced her entry in politics from today at the party’s foundation day programme in Giridih.
The ED officials had, on February 3, approached the Jharkhand High Court in their personal capacity to contest the FIR registered against them.
In the FIR against senior ED personnel at the SC/ST police station here under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the former Jharkhand Chief Minister had alleged that the ED conducted the search operation at his residence in the national capital to harass and malign him and his entire (Scheduled Tribe) community.
Mentioning himself as a “member of Scheduled Tribe”, Hemant had in his FIR named ED officials Kapil Raj, Deovrat Jha, Anupam Kumar, Aman Patel, “unknown others” and “all officers of the Directorate of Enforcement, Ranchi Zonal Office, having their office at Hinoo, Ranchi”.
Hemant said he was in Delhi on January 27-28 and found out on January 29 that the search was carried out on the premises. “This purported search was without any notice to me nor was my presence required on 29th January 2024 at New Delhi by the abovenamed persons,” the then Chief Minister had said in his complaint.
“In fact, the abovenamed persons had required me to be present at Ranchi on 29th and 31 January 2024,” he added.
On the seizure of a luxury car and cash from his Delhi residence, he asserted: “I am not the owner of the car of BMW make which the abovenamed persons claim to have seized. I do not own any illicit cash. The abovenamed persons and unknown others who are not members of any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe have done the aforesaid acts intentionally to humiliate me in public.”
“My family members and I have suffered and experienced immense mental, psychological and emotional harm because of the acts committed by the above-named persons and unknown others who are not members of any SC or ST. I call upon you to register this FIR and take steps in accordance with law,” he had stated in the complaint.
He had claimed the officers leaked “selective misinformation” that a blue BMW car seized from the premises were his and a huge amount of illicit cash belonging to him had also been found.
During the search, the ED claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some “incriminating” documents allegedly connected to the purported money laundering case against the former Jharkhand Chief Minister.
