Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has taken his legal battle to the Supreme Court following the Jharkhand high court’s dismissal of his challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged land scam case. Soren’s move comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand beginning May 13.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Soren, mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, requesting an expedited consideration of Soren’s appeal against the high court’s last week ruling.
Sibal emphasised the urgency of the matter in light of the election in Jharkhand, urging the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, to prioritise the case.
“Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31. We moved the high court on February 4. The high court reserved the judgment on February 28 but did not deliver the judgement. The phase of election starts in the state on the 13th of this month. So, we moved this court under Article 32, and this court issued notice last week. After the notice was issued, the high court delivers the judgment on May 3 rejecting his plea...Very unfortunate that rights are being trampled in this fashion,” Sibal said.
Sibal informed the bench that another matter, seeking interim bail for Soren, is scheduled to come up before a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday (May 7).
{{/usCountry}}Sibal informed the bench that another matter, seeking interim bail for Soren, is scheduled to come up before a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday (May 7).
{{/usCountry}}Responding, the CJI asked Sibal to circulate an email regarding the scheduling of hearings for both pending petitions, saying he would look into the request.
On April 29, the top court issued a notice to ED on Soren’s petition seeking interim bail in the money laundering case lodged by the agency.
The polling in Jharkhand for the Lok Sabha seats will be held on May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
By its judgment on May 3, the high court dismissed Soren’s bail plea, noting: “The petitioner cannot wriggle out of the mess he created for himself. Like the last resort to a losing litigant, an anxious petitioner has raised the bogey of political vendetta.” It added there is an abundance of documents that lay a foundation for the arrest and remand of the petitioner to police and judicial custody.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader earlier approached the top court on the evening of January 31, before he was arrested in connection with the alleged land scam.
The alleged scam pertains to alleged usurping of prime land parcels, including a 4.55-acre defence land at Morabadi Mouza at Ranchi, and a land parcel of 7.6 acres at Hehal, Ranchi – both valued at over ₹74 crore at the current market price, besides several other land parcels – by the accused persons by making fake deeds using manufactured identities and falsifying original land records at Circle Offices and Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata and Circle Offices in Jharkhand, according to the ED charge sheet. Overall, ED has recovered documents related to at least 27 properties of which alleged fake deeds were created.
Soren, who was arrested minutes after he resigned as the chief minister, earlier sought protection from arrest on the grounds that ED’s actions were illegal and vitiated by political considerations. After he was arrested, Soren moved a fresh application requesting the Supreme Court to declare his arrest unconstitutional for being a brazen abuse of power by ED.
The apex court on February 2 declined to consider Soren’s petition and instead directed him to file a case with the high court. It noted that Soren has separately moved a petition before the high court. The top court asked him to pursue his case in the state but refused to set down a deadline for a decision by the high court.
ED has claimed that it has evidence that Soren is the key beneficiary in alleged land-related irregularities in Ranchi, where a network of brokers and businessmen were allegedly working over the years to create fake deeds of landed parcels by forging records in the registrar offices and further selling them off.