Soren has been accused of illegally acquiring 8.5 acres of land in the Baragain Circle, Ranchi and of being involved in a scheme to launder the proceeds of the crime while projecting the property as “untainted”.
Single-judge Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay said that the claim made Enforcement Directorate (ED), that its timely action prevented Soren and others accused from illegally acquiring land, seemed vague since other witnesses alleged that land had already been acquired by Soren.
“The claim of the Enforcement Directorate that its timely action had prevented the illegal acquisition of the land by forging and manipulating the records seems to be an ambiguous statement when considered in the backdrop of the allegation that the land was already acquired and possessed by the petitioner as per some of the statements recorded u/s 50 PMLA, 2002 and that too from the year 2010 onwards,” the Court said.
Pertinently, the Court stated that none of the registers or revenue records bore any evidence of Soren’s direct involvement in the acquisition and possession of the said land.
Further, nobody who was aggrieved by such alleged acquisition had approached the police to register any complaint despite the fact that Soren was not in power in Jharkhand during the relevant period, the Court noted.
“There was no reason for the purported oustees from the land in question not to have approached the authorities for redressal of their grievance if at all the petitioner had acquired and possessed the said land when the petitioner was not in power,” the Court said.
Hence, it concluded that the twin conditions for the grant of bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stood satisfied in the present case.
“The consequence of the findings recorded by this Court satisfies the condition as at Section 45 PMLA, 2002 to the effect that there is ‘reason to believe’ that the petitioner is not guilty of the offence as alleged … On an overall conspectus of the case there is no likelihood of the petitioner committing a similar nature of offence,” the single-judge opined.
Accordingly, the Court directed Soren’s release on bail, subject to him furnishing a bond of ₹50,000 with two sureties of the same amount each, to the satisfaction of the Additional Judicial Commissioner (Special Judge) at Ranchi.
Source: Barandbench
