Hope For Hemant Soren After Arvind Kejriwal's Release? Same Supreme Court Bench Set To Hear Former Jharkhand CM's Plea

The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday (13 may), challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam.

A bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, the same bench that heard Arvind Kejriwal's plea, will hear Soren's plea, which contests the Jharkhand High Court's 3 May decision to dismiss his petition against the arrest, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

Soren had also requested interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections until the court decides on his arrest challenge.

This comes in the backdrop of the recent judgement of the apex court that has granted bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested by ED in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, till 1 June to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections raising hopes for Soren. 

On 10 May, the Supreme Court disposed of Soren's plea seeking an order for the high court to deliver its judgement on his petition challenging the arrest.

The court noted that Soren's petition had become redundant as the high court had already issued its judgement on 3 May, which Soren had subsequently challenged in the apex court.

In his appeal filed through advocate Praghya Baghel, Soren argued that the high court had made an error in dismissing his plea against the arrest.

On 3 May, the high court rejected his plea and refused to grant him bail in the money laundering case.

Soren was arrested on 31 January after resigning as Jharkhand chief minister, with Champai Soren, a party loyalist and state transport minister, named as his successor.

Currently, Soren is in judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

The ED has alleged that Soren generated "huge amounts of proceeds of crime" by manipulating official records to acquire large parcels of land using forged/bogus documents, with the land's value in crores of rupees.