Jharkhand High Court dismisses Hemant Soren plea challenging his arrest by ED

Jharkhand High Court on Friday dismissed the plea by former Chief Minister (CM) Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case against him [Hemant Soren v Directorate of Enforcement]..Acting Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Navneet Kumar passed the order more than two months after it had reserved the same on February 28..Soren had initially filed a plea before the High Court but had later withdrawn the same to move the Supreme Court. However, the apex court refused to entertain his plea and directed him to approach the Jharkhand High Court first.Pursuant to that, Soren moved the High Court which heard the former CM and reserved its order on February 28. Thereafter, on April 24, Soren again moved the apex court highlighting the delay on part of the High Court in announcing its verdict. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren said that delay in pronouncing the order would mean that Soren will remain in jail during the Lok Sabha elections."We had moved an Article 32 plea in Hemant Soren matter. We had (later) approached High Court and the matter was heard on Feb 27-28 and judgment is not delivered yet. The man will be inside and elections will be over. If we say something more then it will be like we are attacking judiciary," Sibal said.Subsequently, on April 29, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice in the plea and listed it for hearing next week. The Court however clarified that it was open for the High Court to pronounce its judgment in the reserved case until then.The High Court then pronounced its verdict today..Soren had stepped down as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on January 31 in the wake of his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case related to the “illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in the State.The ED filed a prosecution complaint on June 23, 2016 in connection with the case under Section 45 of PMLA against Soren, Ranjan, nine others and three companies.Soren has denied the allegations of money laundering. In a video released soon before he was taken into custody, he claimed he was being arrested on the basis of “fake papers” as a part of a conspiracy.