Ex-Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren moves Supreme Court against his arrest by ED; matter to be heard tomorrow

New Delhi: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday approached the Supreme Court against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case arising out of a land scam, triggering a political turmoil in the state.

A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi would hear Soren's petition at 10.30 am on Friday.

On Thursday, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on behalf of Soren and sought urgent hearing.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the ED contended a similar petition has been filed in the Jharkhand High Court.

Sibal, however, said the petition from the High Court would be withdrawn.

The counsel for Soren contended this was a very serious matter, as the Chief Minister was arrested just months before the general elections which would have an adverse effect on the polity of the country.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju also for the ED said there were serious charges against the petitioner.

Soren's counsel claimed he was arrested at 5 pm on Wednesday, though the arrest memo said it was done at 10 pm.

The bench said it would consider the matter on Friday.

A special bench led by the CJI was formed to take up mentioning on behalf of Soren.

The CJI is presiding over a seven judge bench to hear a matter related to minority status of Aligarh Muslim University.

In a swift turn of events, the ED arrested Soren on Wednesday before he was taken to Governor's House to submit his resignation as Chief Minister of the state.