Jharkhand Mukti Morcha moves Delhi High Court against Lokpal order asking CBI to probe party’s properties

PTI

New Delhi, April 10

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday challenged in the Delhi High Court an order of the Lokpal directing the CBI to probe two properties which are in the name of the party.

Justice Subramonium Prasad said he will hear the matter on April 23.

The petitioner, the JMM, represented through senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, challenged the March 4 order of the Lokpal of India which was passed on a complaint filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren.

“Ex facie this is a wrong order,” the senior counsel submitted.

The anti-corruption ombudsman has directed the CBI to probe within six months the alleged benami properties linked to JMM chief Shibu Soren.

The Lokpal, which has also directed the CBI to investigate into two properties belonging to the JMM, passed the direction while disposing of the August 5, 2020 ,complaint of Dubey, who represents Jharkhand’s Godda constituency in Lok Sabha.

The petition, filed in the high court through advocate Abhishek Roy, said the Lokpal’s order was ex facie bad in law and without jurisdiction and that it was passed behind the back of the JMM and which was outside the purview of the anti-corruption ombudsman.

It said no notice was issued to the JMM before passing of the order and no opportunity was granted to it to be heard.

In his complaint to the Lokpal, Dubey had said Soren and his family members indulged in rampant corruption and amassed huge wealth, assets and properties, disproportionate to their known and declared sources of income, by adopting unscrupulous and corrupt means, in his own name and the names of his family members, friends, associates and various companies in various districts of Jharkhand, including Ranchi, Dhanbad and Dumka, among others.

The Lokpal has also asked the CBI to apprise it of the progress the investigation makes by way of sending monthly reports.

Besides, the Lokpal has also said the two properties stood in the name of the JMM, a political party founded by Soren, and they were purchased through him in 2014.

“The JMM is controlled and run by the RPS (respondent public servant, that is, Shibu Soren) and his family members, who wield enormous political clout,” it had said.

The party appears to be virtually a family affair, with RPS and his several family members holding important political positions. The RPS, being the president of the JMM, is actively associated with its decisions and transactions, the Lokpal had said.

“In the light of the material on record, without casting any aspersions on the JMM as a political party, with which we have nothing to do in the matter, we are of the considered view that the role of the RPS in acquisition of these two properties in the name of JMM should be investigated,” it had said in the March order.

The Lokpal has said Soren was at the centre of the issues involved and considering the nature of the allegations and the number of properties that have emerged in the preliminary inquiry report, it would be failing in its statutory duty if the sources of the funds utilised in the purchase of these properties are not probed thoroughly.

The complaint said Soren and his son, former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, have made huge investments in various companies owned by Amit Agarwal, who is a close friend, and his family members, according to the order.

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#Central Bureau of Investigation CBI #Jharkhand