Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren moved the Supreme Court on Monday against the Jharkhand High Court order dismissing his plea challenging his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in an alleged money laundering case.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, on a mention for an early listing, asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren, to send an email and it will look into it.
Making a mention for an early listing, Sibal told the bench that the election phase in Jharkhand will begin on May 13. “Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31, we moved the high court on February 4 and the high court did not deliver the judgement. The phase of election starts on May 13…. This court issued notice and the high court delivered the judgement on May 3. We have filed the SLP, very unfortunate that the rights are being trampled in this fashion,” Sibal elaborated.
The Jharkhand High Court, on May 3, dismissed Soren’s plea challenging his arrest by the ED in an alleged money laundering case. The high court pronounced judgment four days after the Supreme Court agreed on April 29, 2024, to hear Soren’s plea against arrest in the week commencing from May 6.
The judgement was reserved by the high court on February 28, 2024.
Seeking response from the ED and posting the matter for hearing in the week commencing from May 6, 2024, a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta had, however, said it would be open to Jharkhand High Court to deliver its judgement on the former Chief Minister Sorem’s plea challenging his arrest in an alleged money laundering case.
“In the meantime, it will be open to the high court to pronounce the order that was reserved on February 28, 2024,” the bench had said in its order on April 29, 2024.
Soren had earlier approached the top court for bail, citing the delay by the high court in pronouncing the judgment on his plea against arrest by the ED.
Soren is being investigated for money laundering charges in connection with an illegal mining case, as well as an alleged land scam in Ranchi. The Central agency investigating both cases contended that approximately Rs 8.5 acres of property in question constitute proceeds of crime.