The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a plea for interim bail by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam in Ranchi, stating his conduct was not free from blemish.
A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma highlighted that Soren had not come with clean hands, as he failed to disclose that cognizance had already been taken in the complaint by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and that his bail plea had been dismissed.
Despite senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s efforts to argue that the taking of cognizance should not impact the writ petition related to liberty, the court remained unmoved. The bench questioned why material facts were omitted, noting that the cognizance was taken on April 4, 2024, which was not mentioned in the instant plea. The court emphasized the expectation of candor in parallel proceedings.
Sibal contended that the oversight was the counsel’s fault, not Soren’s, who was in jail. Ultimately, Sibal withdrew the petition challenging the May 3 High Court judgment that dismissed Soren’s plea questioning the validity of his January 31 arrest by the ED.
During the hearing, the bench also remarked on the court’s continuous operations during summer vacations and urged those in governance to consider addressing delays in filing petitions.
Sibal had previously sought parity for Soren with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail until June 1 for campaigning during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. On Monday, the Supreme Court asked Soren to justify whether it could examine the legality of his arrest, noting that the order refusing bail indicated a prima facie case against him.
The probe against Soren involves an 8.86-acre plot of land in Ranchi, which the ED alleges was illegally acquired by him. The money laundering investigation stemmed from multiple FIRs registered in land scam cases involving several individuals, including state government officials.
