‘Kejriwal order covers me’, says Hemant Soren; Supreme Court to hear his plea against ED arrest on May 17

“Kejriwal order covers me,” Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Soren said before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta which issued notice to the ED on the plea which challenges the May 3 Jharkhand High Court order dismissing his petition against the arrest.

Hours later, Soren suffered a setback, as a special PMLA court in Ranchi rejected his bail plea in the case. Soren was arrested on January 31.

Initially, the top court bench was inclined to hear the plea only on May 20, and said it needs to give some time to the prosecuting agency to file its reply. “We can’t put it this week. They should also be given time,” observed Justice Khanna.

However, Sibal said it will serve no purpose as the time for campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections will be over by then. “Why should I be prejudiced…where do I go?” he asked. To which, Justice Khanna said, “We have given them the shortest possible time. It cannot be shorter than this”.

Sibal said the court may as well dismiss it if it didn’t take it up early. “That’s not the way,” said the bench. “We never make any submissions like this. Great injustice is being done to us. This is not fair,” said Sibal.

When Justice Khanna observed, “We have given them 7 days’ time only. If you are successful, you will be out”, Sibal said, “That’s not the point whether I am out or not. I’m going to be out, I know. But that’s not the point. The whole purpose of the exercise is what you know…”.

“Even if we keep it on Friday, 99 per cent we will not be able to hear… It’s the last working day,” said the court, referring to summer recess starting on May 18. Sibal said, “We will take a chance”.

As the bench insisted on hearing it on May 20 only, Sibal said he will withdraw the petition if he can’t participate in the elections. “What are you saying? You want to withdraw it!” exclaimed Justice Khanna.

The bench said that even if it hears the matter on May 17, it won’t be able to pronounce the order on the same day and elections are on May 20. Sibal then said the election is also due on dates after that.

Finally, the bench agreed to list it for May 17 but reiterated its doubt whether it will be able to take it up that day.

Soren, who was arrested on January 31 and sent to ED remand by a local court on February 2, has termed his arrest part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “game plan” of vendetta against leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc in which he and his party are vocal participants.

The genesis of the case is the arrest of Bhanu Pratap Prasad, who was a land revenue inspector of the Badhgaain area in 2023 and allegedly a part of a land-grab syndicate which falsified original land records. Several original land records were recovered from Prasad. His phone contained an image of an 8.36-acre land parcel which was allegedly in Soren’s illegal possession.