Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren files IA against Shiv Shankar Sharma for defamation
India Today
Petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma has claimed that Jharkhand CM Soren had obtained a mining lease in his name while holding the office of chief minister. In another petition, he alleged that there are several shell companies that are connected to the CM and his close aides.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren filed an IA against RTI activist Shiv Shankar Sharma for maligning his image and filing a Public Interest Litigations (PIL) based on false information.
The state government also filed an IA against the petitioner a day before Soren. Soren has refuted all the charges in the two PILs against him by Sharma.
One of the PILs demanded a CBI probe against Soren and his family for amassing wealth by investing in shell companies through money laundering. The other PIL alleged that the CM allotted a stone quarry mines of 0.88 acres for himself in Anagda Ranchi, which is against the office of profit provision.
The PIL added that it is a violation of 9A of the people representatives act 1951, leading to disqualification from membership. The petitioner demanded a CBI/ED probe in this case too.
Now, Soren, in his IA against the petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma, has said that the petitioner filed both his PILs with the intention of maligning his image. Calling the PILs baseless and not false information not supported by evidence, the CM has demanded to initiate proceedings against Sharma under 340 of IPC. CM Soren has, in his petition, demanded to put Sharma behind bars for misleading the court.
Petitioner Shiv Sharma’s counsel, Rajiv Kumar, said that they are ready to face the consequences if his client has mislead the court by furnishing false information.
“We are prepared to go to jail for the over 3 crore 30 lakh people of the state to root out corruption. The hearing in bench of chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad in both the PIL is already on. Let there be a CBI or ED probe the truth will come out,” the petitioner counsel added.
