Setback to Hemant Soren as Supreme Court refuses to entertain his plea; sends him back to Jharkhand High Court

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, February 2

In a setback to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain his petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case and asked him to go back to the state high court where his petition was already pending.

“We are not inclined to entertain the present petition under Article 32. We leave it open to the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional high court under Article 226,” a three-judge special Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna told senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who represented Soren.

“We are informed that a petition was filed before the high court and it’s still pending. Thereafter, another plea was filed under Article 226 which was later withdrawn. It’s open to the petitioner to amend his petition,” said the Bench which also included Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi.

Justice Khanna said it will be open to the petitioner to request the high court to expeditiously decide the matter.

As Sibal urged the top court to direct the high court to decide the matter expeditiously, Justice Khanna said, “We will not control a constitutional court.”

At the very outset, Justice Khanna sought to know why Soren did not approach the high court and why he chose to move the top court directly.

“Courts are open to everybody… If we allow one person, then we have to allow everybody (to approach the top court directly…Please go to the high court…We will not interfere,” the Bench noted.

A day after his resignation as Jharkhand Chief Minister and his subsequent arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, JMM Leader Hemant Soren had on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest in a money laundering case.

The manner of arrest just before the General Elections has an adverse impact on the polity of the country, Sibal had alleged.

Meanwhile, a Special PMLA Court in Ranchi on Friday remanded Soren to five-day ED custody in a money laundering case related to an alleged land fraud. The PMLA Court had on Thursday sent Soren to a day’s judicial custody.

The ED alleged that 8.5 acres land was part of the criminal proceeds that Soren allegedly acquired. In a raid conducted on April 13, 2023, the ED had claimed to have unearthed several property-related records and registers that were in the possession of Revenue Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad.

The agency alleged that Prasad and others were part of a “very large syndicate involved in corrupt practices of acquiring properties forcefully as also on the basis of false deeds.

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#Enforcement Directorate #Hemant Soren #Jharkhand #Supreme Court