New Delhi: Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Jharkhand High Court order, which rejected his petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned Soren's petition against the high court order before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. Citing the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Sibal urged to urgently list the matter for hearing. The CJI said that he will look into Sibal’s request for urgent listing.
Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam and was lodged at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi. Soren was sent to the Birsa Munda Central Jail on February 15 after his 13-day custody of the ED.
Citing the evidence and documents, which went against Soren were not false, the high court had said that the recovery of huge cash from his Delhi residence is not denied by the petitioner and the excuse of the illness of his parents for keeping more than ₹36 lakh in cash prima facie looks untenable.
The high court had said that the case set up by the ED against the petitioner is not based only on the statements recorded under section 50 of the PMLA including those who claimed themselves real owners of the properties in question.
It added that there is an abundance of documents that lay a foundation for the arrest and remand of the petitioner to police and judicial custody. “At this stage, it is not possible to hold that the ED has proceeded against the petitioner for no reasons”, said the high court.
The high court had called Soren a “losing litigant” and “anxious petitioner” who, as a last resort to “wriggle out of the mess created by himself, used the bogey of political vendetta”.
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