SC rejects Hemant Soren's plea against ED's arrest in money laundering case

Former chief minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren

The Supreme Court (SC) on February 2 declined to entertain a petition filed by Hemant Soren, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged money laundering case.

The apex court ruled that Soren has the option to approach the high court to seek the same reliefs that he had requested from the Supreme Court. The SC expressed the view that it would not be suitable to directly entertain a plea challenging an arrest by the ED.

During the course of the hearing, a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna was told by Soren's lawyers that this is a fit case for the SC to hear considering the nature of the orders passed in the case.

However, the bench noted that everyone arrested by the ED would then directly come to SC if they entertain this plea.

Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 after over seven hours of questioning on money laundering charges in an alleged land fraud case. Before his arrest, Soren tendered his resignation as Jharkhand chief minister to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan and was then taken to the ED office at Ranchi. Shortly after his resignation, it was announced that Champai Soren would take oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand.

The investigation is linked to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the central probe agency. The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state's Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

An employee of the Jharkhand land revenue department, Bhanu Prasad Prasad, was also arrested by the agency in the case. The ED is probing the alleged "huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/ bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores."