Ranchi, Jan 15 (AHN) In a setback for Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the High Court on Thursday allowed the trial to proceed in a case related to the defiance of summonses issued by the ED in an alleged land scam.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary dismissed Soren’s petition seeking to quash the proceedings pending before the MP-MLA special court. However, the High Court granted him exemption from personal appearance before the court.

The MP-MLA court had initiated judicial proceedings after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the ED. Challenging this, the Chief Minister had approached the High Court seeking dismissal of the case.

The ED had filed its complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in February 2024, alleging that Soren repeatedly failed to comply with summonses issued for questioning in connection with the alleged land scam related to Ranchi’s Bargain circle.

According to the agency, the first summons was issued on August 14, 2023, followed by notices on August 19, September 1, September 17, September 26, December 11 and December 29 in 2023, and January 13, January 22 and January 27 in 2024. In all, ten summonses were issued, but Soren appeared in person on only two occasions.

The ED has claimed that the alleged non-compliance amounts to violations under Section 63 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The CJM court took cognisance of the complaint on March 4, 2024, after which the case was transferred to the MP-MLA special court.

Challenging the cognisance order, Soren contended before the High Court that he had submitted written replies to the ED for the summonses he could not attend and had appeared in response to fresh notices after earlier summonses had lapsed.

He also claimed that the agency issued repeated summonses unnecessarily and with malicious intent.