Jharkhand High Court:- During the hearing in Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday on the petition of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren challenging the powers of ED, senior advocate P. Chidambaram said that there is no criminal case against Soren nor any investigation against him. Agency ED has registered an FIR, hence sending summons to them is not right. He said it is not clear whether the agency is calling Soren as a witness or an accused. He urged the High Court to put a stay on the summons being sent by the ED.
Chidambaram was involved in hybrid mode during the hearing held in the bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Justice Anand Sen. Apart from this, Piyush Chitresh also contributed in the debate. On the other hand, the senior advocate appearing for ED said that this is a case of predicate offence. He said that Sections 50 and 63 of PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) were challenged on behalf of Soren, which has already been decided by the Supreme Court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary.
The court has fixed October 13 for the next hearing. Assistant Solicitor General of India SV Raju is presenting the case on behalf of ED. Arguments will be held on his behalf on October 13. Let us tell you that ED issued summons to Hemant Soren five times to interrogate him regarding the land scam in Jharkhand and details of his property, but Soren did not appear even once. By filing a petition in the High Court on September 23, he has questioned the validity of Sections 50 and 63 of PMLA. It says that the investigating agency has the right to record the statement under Section 50 or arrest someone during the interrogation itself. This is not right. (IANS)