The Supreme Court today declined to grant interim bail to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, and instead scheduled the matter for hearing on May 17.
Soren’s plea for interim bail, aimed at facilitating his participation in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections campaign for his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party, drew parallels with the recent release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from jail.
“My case is covered by Arvind Kejriwal’s order, and I need bail for election campaigning,” Soren’s legal counsel Kapil Sibal asserted before the Bench.
Represented by Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, the Bench heard Soren’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering allegations. The decision follows the dismissal of Soren’s earlier petition against his arrest by the Jharkhand High Court on May 3.
Soren’s legal team, led by Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, sought an urgent hearing of the plea, citing the imminent conclusion of the general elections. However, the court deferred the hearing to May 17, refraining from granting interim relief to the former Jharkhand CM.
In his appeal, filed through advocate Praghya Baghel, Soren contended that the Jharkhand High Court had erred in dismissing his plea against the arrest.
The Enforcement Directorate alleges that during his tenure as CM, Soren orchestrated a scheme to generate illicit proceeds by manipulating official records, involving fictitious transactions and forged documents to acquire valuable land worth crores of rupees. Soren was arrested on January 31, subsequently entering judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.
