ED Moves Jharkhand HC Over FIR Filed By Hemant Soren Over ‘Harassment’ Under SC/ST Act

Ranchi, February 5: The Enforcement Directorate has moved the Jharkhand High Court challenging the First Information Report registered against its officials based on a complaint by former Chief Minister Hemant Soren alleging "harassment" by the probe agency and accusing them of "maligning" his entire community.

On Wednesday, Hemant Soren filed a complaint against officials of the probe agency alleging that the officials tried to 'harass' and 'malign' him and his entire community. Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on Wednesday evening after seven hours of grilling in an alleged money laundering case.

He has been facing questions from the probe agency in an alleged money laundering case. Following his arrest, senior JMM leader Champai Soren took oath as the Chief Minister on Friday afternoon.

"ED has moved to the Jharkhand High Court challenging the FIR registered against its officials by former CM Hemant Soren under the SC/ST Act. The petition was filed on 3rd February," Officials said. The complaint was filed at the SC ST police station in Ranchi.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 29 seats, its ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPI (ML) have 1 seat each in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. With the support of 43 MLAs, the INDIA bloc has the numbers to sail through the floor test.

Meanwhile, the two-day Assembly session will begin from today. The Champai Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand willl seek a trust vote. The Ranchi district administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC within a 100-meter radius of the assembly building.

As per an official order, restrictions will be imposed from Monday at 8:00 am until Tuesday at 10:00 pm. These stringent measures come into force as part of the security arrangements to ensure the smooth conduct of the special session and to prevent any untoward incidents in the new Jharkhand Legislative Assembly building.