Hemant Soren denied interim bail, drawing parallels with Arvind Kejriwal

PTC News Desk: In a money laundering case involving a purported land fraud, the Supreme Court today denied interim bail to former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. 

Soren’s request for temporary bail referenced the recent release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from prison as justification for his desire to be allowed to continue campaigning for his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party in the present Lok Sabha elections. 

Hemant Soren’s appeal contesting his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is looking into the money laundering charges, was heard by a bench made up of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. The ruling was made subsequent to the dismissal of Soren’s previous suit against his arrest on May 3 by the Jharkhand High Court.

Senior attorneys Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, who were Soren’s legal representatives, urged an expedited hearing of the case, pointing out that the general elections will soon be over. But instead of giving the former chief minister of Jharkhand temporary reprieve, the court set the hearing for May 17.

Soren said in his appeal, submitted through attorney Praghya Baghel, that the Jharkhand High Court erred in rejecting his plea challenging the arrest. 

According to the ED, Soren planned a scheme to make illegal money while he was chief minister by falsifying paperwork and manipulating official records to obtain precious land valued at crores of rupees. Following his arrest on January 31, the JMM leader was placed under judicial custody at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail.