A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi on Wednesday framed charges against Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, paving the way for the trial in a money laundering case related to an alleged 8.86-acre land fraud, people familiar with the matter said.
The development came hours after the Jharkhand High Court refused to entertain Soren’s plea seeking immediate stay on the trial court’s proceedings. The matter has now successfully entered the evidence stage. Further proceedings will continue after the court fixes the next date. “Special PMLA Court Judge Yougesh Kumar read out the charges to Soren, who appeared virtually via video conferencing. a critical constitutional battle has begun in the high court While the primary trial moves forward. The court has issued notice. Taking immediate cognizance of this legal challenge, the High Court issued notices to the Central Government and the Enforcement Directorate to submit their formal responses.
ED counsel Amit Kumar Das said, “The court has framed charges against Hemant Soren under Section 3 of the PMLA. Defence counsel Sanjeev Kumar said they explicitly challenged the constitutionality of Section 44(1)(d) of the PMLA Act within Soren’s writ petition before the high court. “We have challenged the constitutionality of sub section 1 (d) of Section 44. A high court advocate close to the matter said that Section 44(1)(d) mandates that a Special PMLA Court must try the scheduled offence and the money laundering offence together.
A civil court advocate present during the framing of the charge said that the CM appeared virtually before the court and the court read out the charges. Soren firmly pleaded innocence against all allegations at the time of framing the charge,” the advocate said, asking not to be named. The court will consider the legality once the reply of notices comes,” he said.
