New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 22) refused to entertain former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma said that they were not inclined to hear Soren’s plea because he had pursed parallel remedies by filing two separate pleas, one challenging his arrest and another seeking bail, but had failed to disclose that the trial court had taken cognisance of the offence, Bar and Bench reported.
“Tell us why was this not mentioned anywhere that cognisance has been taken. Why was cognisance not disclosed,” the bench asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren. Sibal chose to withdraw the plea after the judges said it would be dismissed if it wasn’t withdrawn.
On Tuesday, the court had asked Soren’s counsel if the validity of arrest can be examined after the trial court has taken cognisance of the ED complaint and rejected Soren’s regular bail application.
The ED arrested Soren in late January in what it claims is a money laundering case. Soren was sitting chief minister then and resigned hours before his arrest. He has denied all the allegations and called the case political vendetta by the BJP.
