The Supreme Court on May 13 asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's plea challenging the order of the state's high court refusing to grant him bail.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta have now listed the case for hearing on May 17, the last working day before the court closes for summer vacations.
The apex court has, however, has expressed its apprehension over whether the case will be heard on May 17 as it is the last working day and a lot of cases are listed for hearing on the day.
Supreme Court was initially inclined to list the case in the week commencing May 20, before a vacation bench. However Soren’s lawyer and senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued that the court's order in Arvind Kejriwal’s case will cover him and the election will be over by the next date of hearing. "It will be unfair on Soren, as the election would be over by the" Sibal said. Thus, the court listed it for hearing on May 17.
On May 10, the apex court disposed of his plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Soren had filed the plea earlier this month, after the high court didn’t pass an order on his bail plea despite reserving it in February. However, the HC passed the order on May 3, thus making the plea in SC infructuous.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief had in February moved the SC challenging his arrest. He had earlier moved the Supreme Court. The court had in the same month rejected Soren's plea challenging his arrest and said he should approach the high court, as it would not be appropriate for it to directly entertain a plea challenging an arrest by the ED.
Soren was arrested on January 31 after over seven hours of questioning on money laundering charges arising from an alleged land scam.
Before his arrest, Soren resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister and his senior party colleague, Champai Soren, took over from him.
Soren's arrest is linked to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, the ED has said. It has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, who was the director of the state's social welfare department and Ranchi deputy commissioner.
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