NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the arrest of former Jharkhand CM and JMM leader Hemant Soren by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to a land deal.Hearing the leader’s plea against his arrest, the top court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi asked him to approach the Jharkhand High Court for relief.In his plea before the apex court, Soren has urged it to declare his arrest as unwarranted, arbitrary, and in violation of his fundamental rights. Soren in his plea also accused the ED of arresting him as part of a “well-orchestrated conspiracy” by the Centre ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due months from now.Hemant Soren, 48, who was arrested on January 31 after resigning as the Jharkhand chief minister had first moved the state high court challenging his arrest in the case. The money laundering case is linked to “illegal” possession of huge parcels of land and alleged association with the “land mafia”.The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday produced Soren before a special PMLA court in Ranchi which remanded him to judicial custody for a day.
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