Jharkhand HC defers hearing in Hemant Soren’s plea against ED arrest till Feb 27
Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud
The Jharkhand high court on Monday adjourned hearing on a writ petition filed by former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest and Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand till February 27.
A high court lawyer familiar with the development said the hearing was deferred after the court accepted the amendment in his petition and ED sought two-week time to file a reply.
“On behalf of Soren, senior Supreme Court advocate Kapil Sibal, advocate general (AG) Rajeev Ranjan and advocate Piyush Chitresh appeared. Additional solicitor general SV Raju and high court advocate AK Das appeared on behalf of ED. The matter was heard in the division bench headed by Justice S Chandrashekhar,” the lawyer said.
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Soren’s lawyer Chitresh confirmed the development on the next date of hearing the plea.
Soren was arrested by ED on January 31 in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.
Even before being taken into custody, Soren had filed a petition in the high court and expressed the fear of arrest.
He had requested the court that no coercive action should be taken against him during interrogation.
On February 1, he sought time from the high court saying he was arrested and filed a petition against it in the Supreme Court.
He also attempted to withdraw the case as it was wrong to go to two forums for similar relief.
The ED objected to the petition withdrawal attempt and sought permission from the court to reply in the matter.
On February 2, Soren’s petition was heard in the Supreme Court, but the apex court refused to entertain the matter saying it would set a wrong precedent.
The top court directed Soren to go to the high court first after which Soren filed an intervention petition in the high court.
The hearing was held on February 5 and the same day, the high court had given time till February 9 to ED to file its reply and fixed Monday’s date for hearing.
