Hemant Soren will be in jail and elections will be over: Kapil Sibal to Supreme Court

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren has approached the Supreme Court seeking relief in the money laundering case in which he is currently in jail. .The plea highlighted the delay by the Jharkhand High Court in delivering order in the petition filed by Soren challenging his arrest. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of Soren and mentioned the matter before Justice Sanjiv Khanna. Sibal said that the matter was heard by the High Court on February 27 and 28 but the order is yet to be delivered.He said that delay in pronouncing the order would mean that Soren will remain in jail during the Lok Sabha elections."We had moved an Article 32 plea in Hemant Soren matter. We had (later) approached High Court and the matter was heard on Feb 27-28 and judgment is not delivered yet. The man will be inside and elections will be over. If we say something more then it will be like we are attacking judiciary," Sibal said.Justice Khanna, however, said that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) will have to take a call on listing of the matter."The Chief Justice secretariat will take a call. Please inform once," Justice Khanna said. "This is very sad," Sibal responded."You are (already) pronouncing the order," Justice Khanna replied..Soren had stepped down as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on January 31 in the wake of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the “illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand.The ED filed a prosecution complaint on June 23, 2016 in connection with the case under Section 45 of PMLA against Soren, Ranjan, nine others and three companies.While the accused persons are languishing behind bars, Soren has denied allegations of money laundering. In a video released soon before he was arrested, Soren claimed he was being arrested on the basis of “fake papers” as a part of a conspiracy. Soren stepped down from his CM post on January 31 in the wake of his arrest by the ED.He had then approached the Supreme Court under Article 32 challenging his arrest but the apex court had refused to entertain the same and directed him too approach the High Court first.The JMM leader then moved the High Court which heard the matter but is yet to pronounce its order.