SC seeks ED’s response on Hemant Soren’s interim bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday Issued notice to Enforcement Directorate (ED) on an interim bail plea of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta sought ED’s response by May 6. The Jharkhand High Court may pronounce its verdict on Soren’s plea challenging his arrest in the case. The order was reserved on February 28, the bench added.

During the hearing Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, appeared for Soren, said they want interim bail in the matter. Hemant moved the Apex court on April 24, saying the high court was not pronouncing the verdict on his plea challenging his arrest in the case.

On January 31, Soren was arrested on shortly after he resigned as the chief minister, and state transport minister Champai Soren was named his successor. The probe against Soren pertains to an 8.86-acre plot of land in Ranchi that the ED has alleged was illegally acquired by him. The money laundering investigation stems from multiple FIRs registered by Jharkhand Police in land “scam” cases against several people, including state government officials.

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”.