Jharkhand HC rejects Hemant Soren's plea challenging arrest by ED

New Delhi: Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected former Chief Minister Hemant Soren's petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the land grab case.

A bench of ACJ Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice  Navneet Kumar dismissed his petition.

However, he was granted interim bail (in another petition) for one day to attend the Shraddh ceremony of his uncle (Raja Ram Soren) who passed away last month.

He will remain in Judicial Custody and won't be allowed to speak to the media.

Last month, Soren moved the Supreme Court, saying the high court was not pronouncing verdict on his plea challenging arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren, that the high court had reserved its verdict on February 28 on his plea but still no decision has been delivered.

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on an interim bail plea of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case.

The SC bench issued notice to the ED and sought its response by May 6.

The bench said the Jharkhand High Court may pronounce its verdict on Soren's plea challenging his arrest in the case.

Soren was arrested on January 31 in the case after he resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister, and party loyalist and state transport minister Champai Soren was named as his successor.

He was arrested after being grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for seven hours 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''.