ED seeks CBI probe into case lodged by Hemant Soren under SC/ST Act

The Enforcement Directorate has prayed for a CBI probe before the Jharkhand High Court into allegations levelled by former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren that a section of ED officers violated provisions of the SC/ST Act.

Soren filed a police complaint in Ranchi alleging that the ED's search operation in his New Delhi residence in January maligned him and the "entire" scheduled tribe community to which he belongs.

The ED has prayed for a CBI probe in a criminal writ petition claiming that Soren has purposely sought criminal prosecution against ED officials to jeopardise the investigation initiated against him in a land scam.

The ED arrested Soren, also the executive president of the ruling JMM, on January 31 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the land scam. He resigned as the chief minister shortly before the arrest.

The agency in its petition before the high court has mentioned that merely a few hours before his arrest, Soren lodged the FIR against ED officers.

An ED team that searched Soren's Delhi residence in January and camped there for almost 13 hours in order to question him in the alleged money laundering case in Jharkhand, had claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some ''incriminating'' documents during the search.

ED counsel Amit Kumar Das told PTI that the SC/ST Case against the ED officers is now being investigated by the state police.

The central agency officials have expressed their apprehension about the fairness of the investigation made by the police and have hence sought investigation to be taken over by the CBI, Das said.

The ED filed the case on March 19 and is expected to be taken up soon.

The high court on March 21 stayed the operation of a notice issued by the police against the ED officers. The police had summoned the accused officers to appear before the police station and state their side of the story.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)