The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land ‘scam’ case. Moreover, Soren has also sought interim bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections till the court delivers its verdict on the arrest plea.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will be hearing the plea, in which he challenged a High Court order dismissing the petition against his arrest on May 3.
Two days earlier, the apex court had disposed a plea filed by Soren seeking a direction to the High Court to deliver its verdict on petition challenging his arrest, saying it had become “infructuous”.
The High Court had also denied him bail in the money laundering case. The ED has alleged that “huge amounts of proceeds of crime” were generated by Soren through 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 of rupees.
On January 31, Soren was arrested in connection with the case after he resigned as Jharkhand chief minister. Party loyalist and state transport minister Champai Soren was named as his successor.
Soren is at present lodged in judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.