Ranchi: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi on Thursday deferred the framing of charges against chief minister Hemant Soren in the alleged Bargain land scam case till 11.15 am on Wednesday (Sept 30).The court granted time after Soren’s counsel sought an adjournment, stating that a list of unverified documents supplied by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday morning was still being scrutinised by the defence.The plea was moved before the commencement of the charge-framing process. Soren, who appeared before the court through video conferencing, also sought time to examine the documents.Initially, the court indicated that the process could not be delayed and was prepared to proceed with reading out the charges. However, after hearing arguments from the defence for nearly an hour, it allowed the request and adjourned the matter.The case pertains to the alleged illegal acquisition of an 8.83-acre plot in Ranchi’s Bargain circle, which ED claims is linked to a money laundering investigation.So far, the PMLA court has framed charges against 16 accused in the case, including Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Tapas Ghosh, Shekhar Kushwaha, Mohammad Saddam Hussain, Anand Tirkey, Afsar Ali, Mohammad Irshad Akhtar, Kumar Rajshree, Manoj Kumar Yadav, Priya Ranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh, Bijendra Singh, Sanjeet Kumar and Mohammad Irshad. All the accused have pleaded not guilty and will face trial.
