Court Rules Approval Not Sufficient to Halt Trial in Soren Money‑Laundering Probe

Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad of the Jharkhand High Court clarified that a lack of explicit government permission does not automatically suspend criminal proceedings. While Soren pointed to Section 197 of the CrPC as a safeguard, the Enforcement Directorate countered with the applicability of Section 218 of the PMLA, which treats any delay beyond 120 days as implicit consent. The bench concluded that premature interruption of the trial would be premature and that the prosecution must be allowed to proceed, with the court reviewing the merits of the charges when evidence is laid before it.