Next hearing on Hemant Soren's plea against ED on February 27

The High Court of Jharkhand on Monday adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by arrested ex-chief minister Hemant Soren against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till February 27.

The court will again hear the plea on that day.

It asked the federal agency to file a consolidated affidavit.


Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan said they had challenged the arrest of the former chief minister, and the high court allowed their amended application to be submitted.

"ED has been directed to give a consolidated reply. The court has fixed February 27 as the date for final disposal. The amendment to our application has been allowed...Now hearing will be on the turn of events (leading to Hemant Soren's arrest). This is a good indication, now we can place all the facts before the court," Ranjan, Soren's counsel, said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued on behalf of Soren.

Additional solicitor general SV Raju appeared on behalf of the central agency.

"In our amendment prayer, we have said that the entire process (initiated by the ED against Hemant Soren) is motivated by malice. There was no crime but inquiry was on against a sitting chief minister...ED acted beyond its power. We have challenged the entire proceeding by the ED. It is illegal," the advocate general said.

The high court had on February 5 asked the central agency to file its reply on Soren's petition.

The JMM leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.

On February 2, he was remanded to ED custody by a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi for five days.

Later, the court had on February 7 extended the ED remand of the former chief minister by five days in the money laundering case.