Mamata welcomes J’khand’s former CM Soren’s bail

Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday welcomed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s bail.

In a post on X, Banerjee said: “Hemant Soren, an important tribal leader, and Chief Minister of Jharkhand, had to resign because of a case, but today he has received bail from the Hon’ble High Court! I am very happy with the great development and am sure that he will start his public activities immediately. Welcome back, Hemant, amidst us!

Ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Soren was released from jail after he was granted bail by the state High Court in a land scam case this morning.

“Bail is granted. The court held, prima facie, Hemant Soren is not guilty, and there is no likelihood of the petitioner committing an offence on bail,” his counsel, Arunabh Chowdhury, told media.

Banerjee had trained her guns at the BJP-led government at the Centre when Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Banerjee alleged that the Narendra Modi led Centre was using central agencies to attack all the Opposition parties in the country.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader, Soren, was arrested by the ED on January 31 on money laundering charges. The ED had accused him of running a scheme to manipulate records via fictitious transactions and forged documents, and acquire 8.86 acres of land in Ranchi worth crores. Soren has repeatedly denied the charges against him, and has accused the ruling BJP of framing his arrest - which was weeks before the Lok Sabha election - to derail the opposition. The bail order came on Friday after setbacks last month. First, the Ranchi special court had denied Soren’s bail.