Hemant Soren sent to one-day judicial custody, a day after arrest by ED

Hemant Soren, the leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and a former chief minister, was placed under one-day judicial custody on Thursday by a special PMLA court in Ranchi. This was in relation to the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into an alleged land scam. The former chief minister of Jharkhand was placed under 10-day detention at the request of the Directorate of Enforcement, but the order has been reserved. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for tomorrow by the court.

Justice Dinesh Rai, the Special Judge of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, reserved the order after hearing both sides.
Soren was on Wednesday night arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) after six hours of questioning in the money laundering case linked to the alleged land scam.
According to the ED, CM Soren was questioned as a part of the probe into the “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia”.

The investigation focuses on the enormous sums of money obtained through the falsification of official records, wherein “fake sellers” and purchasers purchase enormous tracts of land valued in crores under the pretense of forged or fake documents.