The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren seeking interim bail in a money-laundering case, enabling him to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also instructed the federal probe agency to submit a concise reply on Soren’s plea against his arrest, scheduling the matter before a vacation bench on May 21. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Soren, emphasized that if granted interim bail, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader would surrender on June 2.
“There is no material against me in the case. Elections will be over if not granted interim bail,” Sibal stated. Sibal and senior advocate Arunabh Chowdhury, also representing Soren, reiterated that the JMM leader neither possesses the land in question nor has any involvement in the matter.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, noted that Soren was arrested earlier and has not contested the rejection of his regular bail application.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal for Soren stressed interim bail and apprised the court that one phase of the Lok Sabha poll is over, the fifth phase is on May 20 and the third phase is scheduled for May 25. He also said that there is no material to show against Soren in the case.
The top court said that it will not pass any order unless it is prima facie satisfied. Soren has approached the top court against the Jharkhand High Court decision which rejected his plea challenging arrest in a money laundering case. Jharkhand High Court has rejected Soren’s plea challenging arrest in a money laundering case on May 3.
Soren in his plea before the High Court has claimed that his arrest was unwarranted and his remand in the matter was arbitrary and illegal. Hemant Soren, who has filed the petition through advocate Pragya Baghel, called his arrest illegal and malafide. In the meantime, he has sought interim bail.
After a prolonged moment of speculation in the media and a hide-and-seek drama, former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chairperson Hemant Soren was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the land scam case in January. The probe pertains to huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by forging official records by showing ‘fake sellers’ and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land valued in crores. The JMM leader was apprehended on January 31 in connection with the money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam following his resignation as the Jharkhand chief minister.