Supreme Court postpones Hemant Soren’s bail plea hearing to May 21

The Supreme Court on Friday postponed the hearing of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's bail plea to May 21, i.e on Tuesday. Soren, the JMM chief, was arrested in January on money laundering charges. The case will now be reviewed by a vacation bench.

The court had earlier disposed of Hemant Soren's plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Soren had moved to the top court after the Jharkhand High Court didn’t make a decision on his bail plea, which was reserved in February. The High Court issued its ruling on May 3, rendering the plea in the Supreme Court ineffective.

In February, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief had initially challenged his arrest directly in the Supreme Court. However, the court rejected his plea and advised him to approach the high court first, stating it wouldn't be appropriate to directly challenge an arrest by the ED in the apex court.

Soren was apprehended on January 31 after being questioned for over seven hours regarding money laundering charges linked to an alleged land scam.

Soren, before getting arrested, stepped down as the chief minister, and his senior party colleague, Champai Soren, succeeded him.

Soren's arrest is connected to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand. Up to now, 14 people, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as the director of the state's social welfare department and as Ranchi deputy commissioner, have been arrested in connection with the case.