Hemant Soren walks out of jail

Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren walked out of jail on Friday, hours after the Jharkhand high court granted bail to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president who was arrested by the directorate of enforcement (ED) on January 31 on money laundering charges in connection with an alleged land racket in the state capital.

The bench of justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay also turned down the request of ED to stay the bail order for 24 hours, lawyers who were part of the proceedings said.

The development comes as a shot in arm for Soren’s party, and the INDIA bloc of opposition parties. Soren was the second chief minister -- Arvind Kejriwal is the other -- from the front who was arrested by the federal agency barely months before the Lok Sabha elections.

While Kejriwal is still in jail, Soren walking out of jail on Friday is seen as a boost for the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance in Jharkhand, which is headed for assembly elections later this year along with Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir.

Soren resigned as chief minister on January 31, minutes before he was arrested by the federal agency , and passed on the baton to Champai Soren. As he languished in jail, his party won three Lok Sabha seats this year, two more than its tally in 2019; its partner, the Congress, won two. The BJP-led NDA won nine of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, three less than 2019. All the five seats won by the JMM-Congress combine in the state this time are reserved for scheduled tribes.

Speaking to reporters, Kalpana Soren, who was at Hotwar jail to receive her husband, thanked the judiciary. “We had trust in judiciary. We were waiting for this day for months. I thank all including people for their support,” said Kalpana who won Gandey assembly by election, held along with Lok Sabha election.

The case originated with the arrest of Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a land revenue sub-inspector of Bargain circle area in the state capital, in 2023. Prasad was allegedly part of a land-grab syndicate that falsified original land records. Several original land records were recovered from Prasad, along with an image on his phone showing an 8.86-acre land parcel allegedly in Soren’s illegal possession.

The agency served 10 summons to Soren between August 14, 2023 to January 31, 2024 in connection with the case. Soren failed to respond to eight out of ten summonses before he agreed to record his statement at his official residence on January 20. The federal agency arrested Soren on January 31.

The HC in its bail order however observed that ‘there is a reason to believe that the petitioner is not guilty of the offence as alleged’.

“...the overall conspectus of the case based on broad probabilities does not specifically or indirectly assign the petitioner (Soren) to be involved in the acquisition and possession as well as concealment of 8.86 acres of land at Shanti Nagar, Baragain, Ranchi connected to the proceeds of crime,” the bail order added.

JMM leaders welcomed the development . “We always knew that our leader has been framed in a false case. We had trust in the judiciary which delivered justice to us today,” said Supriyo Bhattacharya, JMM general secretary and spokesperson.

On a specific question of ED moving the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of Soren’s bail, the JMM leader said the party is confident because the “allegations are baseless”.

The opposition BJP meanwhile described the celebrations by the JMM camp as premature. “Firstly, we are yet to know the grounds and conditions of the bail granted by the HC. Moreover, getting bail is not an acquittal from the case. The JMM is celebrating as if Hemant Soren has been discharged from the serious allegations he is facing,” said BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo.