The Supreme Court has disposed of a plea filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren seeking direction from the high court to deliver its verdict on his petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed that the petition has become infructuous as the high court has already delivered its judgment on May 3rd. Soren had also sought interim bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections until the high court’s verdict on his plea against arrest.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, representing Soren, were told by the bench that the petition has become infructuous. Sibal informed the court that Soren’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the high court’s verdict is scheduled for hearing on May 13. He requested both petitions to be heard together on the said date. However, the bench directed Soren’s counsel to raise all contentions in the SLP hearing scheduled for May 13.
“Forget that he is a former chief minister. I (Soren) have a right as a citizen to be dealt with fairly by the high court,” Sibal asserted.
On April 29, the Supreme Court had stated that it would be open for the high court to pronounce its verdict on Soren’s plea challenging his arrest in the case. The high court had reserved its order on February 28.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating the alleged “huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores” in this case.
In his plea filed through advocate Pragya Baghel, Soren claimed a pattern had emerged in the ED’s actions, targeting political leaders belonging to the opposition based on “cooked-up allegations”. His plea stated, “Knowing that the elections are around the corner and with a malafide intent of paralysing the leaders of opposition political parties, of which Hemant Soren being the leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was arrested on January 31, 2024.”
Soren was arrested on January 31 in the case after he resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister. Party loyalist and State Transport Minister Champai Soren was named as his successor.
The disposal of Soren’s plea by the Supreme Court marks another chapter in the ongoing legal battle over his arrest and the alleged malpractices investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. As the case proceeds, the political implications and the pursuit of justice will continue to unfold in the public eye.
