The
Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant
Soren for suppressing facts regarding filing of regular bail plea in trial
court in a money laundering case, prompting the JMM leader to withdraw his
petition challenging arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.
A
vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed
Soren's counsel Kapil Sibal to withdraw his plea after warning that if the
court goes into the details of the case it will be damaging for the former
chief minister.
Your conduct tells a lot. We expected your client to
come up with candour but you suppressed material facts, the bench told Sibal.
Your conduct is not without blemish, the bench told
Sibal, after he tried to defend Soren saying he is in custody and does not have
any knowledge about the petitions being filed in courts.
He
is not a layman, the bench observed and said it will dismiss his plea against
arrest without going into the merit of the case. Sibal then agreed to withdraw
the plea, which was allowed by the bench.
The
ED had earlier told the apex court that Soren's arrest on January 31 has been
upheld by the Jharkhand High Court and his regular bail application was
dismissed by the trial court on May 13.
On
May 13, Soren referred to the top court's order granting interim bail to
Kejriwal in the money laundering case against him linked to the alleged Delhi
excise scam and sought identical relief for himself.
In
his appeal filed through advocate Praghya Baghel, the JMM leader said the high
court had erred in dismissing his plea.
The
ED has alleged that "huge amounts of proceeds of crime" were
generated by 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.
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.
Soren
is currently lodged in judicial custody in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail.