Ranchi:

Ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been granted bail by the High Court. “Bail is granted. The court held, prima facie, Hemant Soren is not guilty, and there is no likelihood of the petitioner committing an offence on bail,” Mr Soren’s counsel Arunabh Chowdhury, told news agency PTI.

Given there are no other cases against him at this time, Mr Soren may be released soon.

Bail was reportedly granted on payment of two sureties of Rs 50,000 each.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 on money laundering charges. The ED has accused him of running a scheme to manipulate records, via fictitious transactions and forged documents, and acquire 8.86 acres of land in Ranchi worth crores.

Mr Soren has repeatedly denied the charges against him, and has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of framing his arrest – which was weeks before the Lok Sabha election – to derail the opposition.

The bail order today comes after setbacks last month.

First, the Ranchi special court had denied Mr Soren bail.

That was followed by the High Court rejecting a plea to quash his arrest. The court pointed to an “abundance of documents that lay foundation for the arrest and remand of petitioner”.

Mr Soren was also told he could not “wiggle out of the mess he created for himself’. 

Following that the Supreme Court also refused interim bail; this was sought on grounds Mr Soren needed to campaign for his party, and the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc, in the Lok Sabha polls.

READ | No Interim Bail Yet For Hemant Soren. He Cited Kejriwal’s Example

That setback meant Hemant Soren – unlike his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, arrested by the ED in the alleged liquor policy scam but given interim bail by the top court – could not campaign.

, the Jharkhand leader was forced to withdraw an interim bail plea after tough questions over non-disclosure of facts; the focus was on Mr Soren not revealing the special court – which hears cases related to money laundering – had taken cognisance of the complaint against him.

READ | “Misused State Machinery”: ED On Soren’s Top Court Bail Plea

In that hearing the ED argued Mr Soren had tried to subvert the investigation by “misusing state machinery” and so opposed his “special prayer” for interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls.

There was also confusion over a prior bail plea – dismissed – in the High Court, which then pointed to an

NDTV Explains | Hemant Soren’s 2 Bail Pleas And A Rap By Supreme Court

This was after the Supreme Court issued a notice to the central agency and sought its response to an interim bail plea filed before it on grounds the High Court was delaying delivery of its judgement.

Mr Kejriwal had been granted bail by the top court to campaign for the AAP.

READ | 9 Acre Illegal Land, BMW Car: What Report On Soren’s Claims

Hemant Soren resigned as Chief Minister on January 31, hours after the ED began a marathon questioning session and then informed him he would be arrested.

READ | Soren Refused To Sign Arrest Memo Until He Resigned: Sources

Mr Soren, however, refused to accept the arrest memo till he had quit his post, in order to avoid being the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested.

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today refused to grant interim bail to former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam and posted the matter for hearing on May 17. 

Mr Soren’s plea for interim bail, aimed at allowing his participation in campaigning for his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, cited the recent release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from jail as an example. 

“My case is covered by Arvind Kejriwal’s order and I need bail for election campaigning,” Mr Soren’s legal counsel Kapil Sibal told the bench.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta heard Mr Soren’s petition, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the money laundering allegations. The court’s decision came after the Jharkhand High Court dismissed Mr Soren’s earlier petition against his arrest on May 3.

Mr Soren’s legal counsel, represented by Mr Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, sought an urgent hearing of the plea, highlighting the imminent conclusion of the general elections. The court, however, scheduled the hearing for May 17, declining to grant interim relief to the former Jharkhand chief minister.

In his appeal, filed through advocate Praghya Baghel, Mr Soren contended that the Jharkhand High Court had erred in dismissing his plea against the arrest. 

The ED alleges that Mr Soren, during his tenure as chief minister, orchestrated a scheme to generate illicit proceeds by manipulating official records, involving fictitious transactions and forged documents to acquire valuable land worth crores of rupees. The JMM leader was arrested on January 31, leading to his subsequent judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of the petition of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren seeking interim bail to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The Supreme Court said that Mr Soren’s interim bail petition should be taken up along with the petition declaring his arrest in a money laundering case as “illegal”, due for hearing on Monday.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was arrested in January by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He had moved the Supreme Court against the Jharkhand High Court order dismissing his application challenging his arrest by the ED and denied bail to him.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Mr Soren, told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that polling for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand will commence on May 13 and that the JMM leader should be allowed to campaign for his party.

“Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31. We moved the high court on February 4. The high court reserved the judgment on February 28 but did not deliver the judgment. The High Court kept the judgment pending for long,” Mr Sibal said.

“The first phase of election starts in the state on May 13 and so we moved this court under Article 32 of the Constitution, and notice was issued last week. After the notice was issued, the high court delivered the judgment rejecting his plea. Its very unfortunate that rights are being trampled in this fashion,” Mr Sibal had said.

Mr Soren was arrested on January 31 shortly after he resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister. He is currently lodged in judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.

The central probe agency has alleged that “huge amounts of proceeds of crime” were generated by Mr 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.