Delhi High Court rejects plea by Shibu Soren to quash Lokpal proceedings against him

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) patriarch Shibu Soren to quash the Lokpal proceedings against him in a case related to alleged accumulation of disproportionate assets [Shibu Soren v Lokpal of India & Anr]. .A division bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Rajnish Bhatnagar rejected Soren's plea challenging a single-judge order. The bench said that the Lokpal is yet to decide whether a prima facie case exists against Soren for ordering investigation. It said that from the allegations of corruption levelled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey against Soren, it is evident that the complaint pertains not only to purchase of properties bought more than seven years ago but also to ongoing incidents of amassing wealth by misuse of power. "In the light of these allegations, we are unable to accept the appellant’s [Soren] plea that it was a fit case where the respondent no. 1 [Lokpal] ought to have at the very first instance rejected the complaint as being barred by limitation. In fact, as held hereinabove, the respondent no. 1 is yet to take a decision as to whether or not a prima facie case exists for directing investigation against the appellant by any agency including the Delhi Special Police Establishment [CBI]," the Court observed. It concluded that there is no infirmity in the approach adopted by the Lokpal. "For the aforesaid reasons, we find absolutely no reason to interfere with the impugned order, holding that the writ petition filed by the appellant was premature. The appeal being meritless is, accordingly, dismissed with all accompanying applications," the Court ordered. .Soren, who is now a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), approached the Court challenging the proceedings before the Lokpal and its order dated August 4, 2022, through which proceedings were directed to be initiated to determine whether a prima facie case exists to proceed further against him.The allegations against the former Chief Minister are that he amassed huge wealth, properties and assets by adopting unscrupulous and corrupt means in the State of Jharkhand over a period of more than ten years.The assets, it is alleged, are not only in his own name but even in the names of his family members including sons, daughters, daughter-in-law, friends and various companies in various districts of Jharkhand such as Ranchi, Dhanbad and Dumka etc.The JMM patriarch has termed the allegations and the complaint mischievous, false, frivolous and motivated and a rambling yarn spun by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey.According to his plea, the proceedings before the Lokpal were initiated pursuant to a complaint dated August 5, 2020, and that although the CBI commenced a preliminary enquiry sometime in July 2021 against him, his wife and children, no copy of the complaint was provided to Soren till the end of February 2022.In an order dated January 22, 2024, a single-judge had held that Soren's plea was premature as the Lokpal was yet to apply its mind to the information provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and decide whether an investigation is necessary or not.The single-judge rejected the argument that the complaint filed against Soren's client was completely motivated and Lokpal would invariably order investigation.This led to the appeal before the division bench..Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury along with advocates Pragya Baghel, Vaibhav Tomar, Aparajita Jamwal and Aditya Bharadwaj appeared for Shibu Soren. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta along with advocates Apoorv Kurup, Gauri Goburdhan, Nidhi Mittal, Muskaan Gupta and Akhil Hasija represented Lokpal. Senior Advocate Atmaram NS Nadkarni along with advocates Rishi K Awasthi, Piyush Vatsa, Amit Vikram Awasthi and Rahul Kumar Gutpa represented complainant Nishikant Dubey. .[Read Judgment]