The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected former Jharkhand chief minister’s interim bail petition seeking interim bail on money laundering charges in a land scam-related case to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, saying noting that the petitioner has “not disclosed the fact” that the trial court has taken cognisance of the chargesheet in the matter.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Hemant Soren, said he withdrew the petition seeking interim bail. Soren was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam in Jharkhand. A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed Sibal to withdraw his plea after issuing a warning that if the court goes into the details of the case, it will be “damaging” for Soren.
The bench told Sibal, “Your conduct is not without blemish”, after he tried to defend Soren saying he is in custody and does not have any knowledge about the petitions being filed in courts. “He is not a layman,” the bench observed and said it will dismiss his plea against arrest without going into the merit of the case. Sibal then agreed to withdraw the plea.
The ED had earlier told the apex court that Soren’s arrest on January 31 has been upheld by the Jharkhand High Court and his regular bail application was dismissed by the trial court on May 13.
The ED had alleged that “huge amounts of proceeds of crime” were generated by Soren through 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 of rupees.
The probe against Soren pertains to an 8.86-acre plot of land in Ranchi that the ED has alleged was illegally acquired by him. The money laundering investigation stems from multiple FIRs registered by Jharkhand Police in land “scam” cases against several people, including state government officials.