The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up former Jharkhand Chief MinisterHemant Soren for “suppressing facts” regarding filing of regular bail plea in trial court in a money laundering case, prompting the JMM leader to withdraw his petition challenging arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.
A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed Soren’s counsel Kapil Sibal to withdraw his plea after warning that if the court goes into the details of the case it will be “damaging” for the former chief minister.
“Your conduct tells a lot. We expected your client to come up with candour but you suppressed material facts,” the bench told Sibal
“Your conduct is not without blemish,” the bench told Sibal, after he tried to defend Soren saying he is in custody and does not have any knowledge about the petitions being filed in courts.
“He is not a layman,” the bench observed and said it will dismiss his plea against arrest without going into the merit of the case. Sibal then agreed to withdraw the plea, which was allowed by the bench.