Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren has been allowed by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Ranchi on Saturday to participate in the trust vote in the state assembly on February 5, reports PTI.
Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in an alleged land fraud case. The special court on Friday was remanded to the ED custody for five days by the court. The ED is probing into a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand.
Soren pleaded before the court that he is a member of the assembly and has a right to participate in the special session.
“Applicant (Soren) is, therefore, filing the present Application seeking an order from this Hon’ble Court to permit the Applicant to attend the Special Session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and participate in the proceedings of the Floor Test slated for February 5 at 11 AM,” the petition said.
The new Champai Soren-led government has sought the floor test to prove majority in the House.
Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan said that the central agency vehemently objected to the petition.
“We said now the cat is out of the bag, and the purpose of the ED is not to do any investigation but to scuttle the formation of a new government or to bring down the government. They have no business to object to proceedings of the assembly when he is not interfering with the investigation. Therefore, the court has accepted our petition and our petition has been allowed,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
Ahead of the trust vote, after Champai Soren was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand, around 40 MLAs of the ruling JMM coalition were flown to Hyderabad, Telangana, state ruled by Congress.