The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the trial proceedings in the money laundering case registered against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on his plea seeking quashing of the case and challenging repeated summons.
The ED had filed a complaint case against Hemant Soren alleging that he failed to appear before the agency despite multiple summonses issued in connection with an alleged land scam. A special MP-MLA court had taken cognisance of the complaint.
Soren approached the Jharkhand High Court seeking quashing of the proceedings. However, on January 15, the High Court refused to quash the cognisance order, dealing a setback to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader.
Challenging the High Court’s decision, Soren moved the Supreme Court. His plea sought quashing of the money laundering case as well as relief against what he termed repetitive summons issued by the ED.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi issued notice to the ED on the petition.
The top court stayed the trial proceedings in the case while considering Soren’s challenge.
The matter will be taken up after the ED files its response to the notice issued by the Supreme Court.
