Hemant Soren was arrested late Wednesday night.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today dismissed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges.
“We are not interfering, go to High Court,” the Supreme Court said while hearing Hemant Soren’s petition challenging his arrest.
Hemant Soren was arrested late Wednesday night. He has been sent to judicial custody for one day, with a definitive ruling on the central agency’s request for 10-day custody expected Friday afternoon.
In his petition, Hemant Soren contended before the Supreme Court that the agency had “abused its power and acted in a malafide manner to destabilise a democratically-elected state government”.
He also called his arrest “illegal and without jurisdiction”; Mr Soren has already filed one case against senior officers of the probe agency under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Act.
“The ED is brazenly acting under the (diktats) of the central government and hounding the petitioner to destabilise a democratically-elected government headed by the petitioner,” he said.
Hemant Soren was arrested on Wednesday night amid high drama all this week, starting with “the case of the missing Chief Minister”.
