SC asks ED to reply to Hemant Soren’s bail plea by May 6

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 29) asked the Enforcement Directorate to reply to the interim bail plea of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case.

Issuing a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta sought its response by May 6.

The bench said the Jharkhand High Court may pronounce its verdict on Soren's plea challenging his arrest in the case. The order was reserved on February 28.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, appearing for Soren, said they want interim bail in the matter.

Soren moved the top court on April 24, saying the high court was not pronouncing the verdict on his plea challenging his arrest in the case.

Soren was arrested on January 31 shortly after he resigned as the chief minister, and state transport minister Champai Soren was named his successor.

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.

The ED is probing the alleged "huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by 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".

(With inputs from agencies)