SC to hear Hemant Soren’s plea against ED arrest on May 13

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader and former chief minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the plea of Soren in which he has challenged the May 3 order of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his petition against the arrest.

Soren had also sought interim bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections till the court delivers its verdict on his plea against arrest.

On May 10, the top court had disposed of Soren’s plea seeking a direction to the high court to deliver its verdict on his petition challenging his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case.

The court had observed that the petition of Soren has become infructuous as the high court has delivered its judgement on May 3 and the JMM leader has already challenged the same in the apex court.

“This has become infructuous,” the bench had told senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, who were appearing for Soren.

In his appeal filed through advocate Praghya Baghel, Soren said that the high court had erred in dismissing his plea against the arrest.