New Delhi: In a big relief for Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed his plea challenging a Jharkhand High Court order against him in the illegal mining case. The SC order came days after the Jharkhand High Court held a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a probe against Soren in the alleged mining scam case maintainable.
It may be noted that the Jharkhand CM faces disqualification as MLA on the BJP’s complaint for granting himself a mining lease while holding office in 2021. The Election Commission has reportedly recommended to Governor Ramesh Bais that action be taken against him. But the Governor has kept that hanging, even though Soren has asked for the “envelope” to be opened immediately.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier arrested his aide Pankaj Mishra and two others in the case, after raids in July and seizure of Rs 11.88 crore from Mishra’s bank accounts. The agency claimed to have found ? 5.34 crore in “unaccounted” cash from Mishra’s home. Three months ago, the ED questioned Soren’s press adviser, Abhishek Prasad, too.
The ED reportedly also recovered a passbook of Hemant Soren and some cheques signed by him from the home of Mishra. In its chargesheet, the ED claimed that Pankaj Mishra, the political representative of Hemant Soren, “controls” illegal mining business in the Chief Minister’s assembly constituency Barhait through his accomplices.
Soren, according to sources, has sought a copy from the Election Commission (EC) of Governor Ramesh Bais’s request for a “second opinion” in an office-of-profit case. This comes in the wake of the governor saying on October 27 that he has sought a “second opinion” in the case and claimed that an “atom bomb could explode any time in Jharkhand”, apparently indicating to his pending decision in the matter.
