The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday sought a 10-day remand for former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, following his arrest in connection with a money laundering case. The court, however, deferred its decision, with the next hearing scheduled for tomorrow, February 2. Hemant Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), appeared before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi today, where he has been placed under judicial custody for one day.
Soren was brought before the PMLA court in Ranchi by the Enforcement Directorate, who had deployed heavy security. Hemant Soren has been sent to judicial custody for one day.
Earlier on Wednesday, Soren filed an FIR against ED personnel for searches conducted at his Delhi residence on Monday, according to officials.
According to the FIR, Soren claimed that the ED conducted the search to "harass and malign him and his entire community".
Soren filed a petition with the Jharkhand High Court late at night, PTI reported citing party sources. However, the reason he moved to court was unknown.
The JMM leader is accused of money laundering for allegedly illegally possessing certain immovable assets, in addition to his purported links with members of the 'land mafia'.
The investigation is linked to a "huge racket of illegal land ownership change by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the central probe agency.
The ED has arrested 14 people in the case, including Chhavi Ranjan, a 2011-batch IAS officer who was the director of the state's Social Welfare Department and Ranchi's deputy commissioner.