By – Prakarsh Kastwar
The Supreme Court declines to intervene in Hemat Soren’s arrest, instead directing his lawyers to file a petition with the Jharkhand High Court.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to intervene in former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s detention by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. The Supreme Court directed his lawyers to move the Jharkhand High Court.
“Why don’t you approach the high court,” the top court asked Kapil Sibal, who was representing Soren. Sibal told the court that the issue included a chief minister who had been arrested.
“Courts are open to everyone, and high courts are constitutional courts,” the supreme court stated.
The central agency arrested Soren on Wednesday after questioning him in connection with a money laundering investigation into a land scam case. He was brought before the court on Thursday and sentenced to a day of judicial imprisonment.
The JMM leader accused the ED of arresting him as part of the Centre’s “well-orchestrated conspiracy” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled several months from now.
Soren pleaded with the Supreme Court to declare his arrest unjustified, arbitrary, and a breach of his fundamental rights.
Soren unlawfully obtained 12 land properties in Ranchi.
The Enforcement Directorate, while presenting Soren to a special PMLA court in Ranchi on Thursday, claimed that the ex-Jharkhand chief minister had illegally acquired and allegedly possessed 12 adjacent land parcels in Ranchi totaling 8.5 acres, obtained by “a very large syndicate” involved in property grabbing.
The central agency’s investigation against Soren derives from raids conducted in 2023 against Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a sub-inspector in the state’s revenue department who is accused of working with the land mafia.
According to the ED, the sub-inspector was allegedly involved in developing plans to illegally acquire and conceal numerous properties, including those owned and possessed by Hemant Soren.