Within days after interim bail was granted to Arvind Kejriwal on the grounds of campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren approached the apex court with a similar plea.
What did SC say?
The Supreme Court, on Monday refused to grant interim bail to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The court further listed the case on May 20, during the court’s summer vacation, due to the burden of cases before the court goes on vacation.
Soren’s advocate, Kapil Sibal, strongly opposed this because “Elections would be over by May 20. We wanted to participate in the elections. I would never make a submission for an earlier date, but great injustice has been done to us. If not, then dismiss my case.”
After an exchange of words between the bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta and senior advocate Sibal, the court fixed May 17 as the date to hear Hemant Soren’s petition.
“We don’t know whether we will be able to take up the matter, but still, we are posting it for May 17,” the bench reiterated.
Why is Hemant Soren under custody?
On January 31, this year, ED arrested Mr. Soren under the PMLA after he submitted his resignation as Chief Minister. 
The arrest was made in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to a land scam.
About the case
The ED has arrested twenty-five people in connection with the scam, in which land records in Ranchi and Kolkata were tampered with or concealed to facilitate the unlawful acquisition, possession, and use of landed properties.
The genesis of the case is the arrest of Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a land revenue inspector of the Badhgaain area, in 2023. Prasad was allegedly part of a land-grab syndicate that falsified original land records. 
Soren and Prasad were arrested for acquiring, possessing, and concealing the proceeds of crime in the form of an immovable property admeasuring 8.8 acres at Bariatu, Ranchi.
He at present is lodged in judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.
The plea before the Supreme Court challenged the May 3 order of the Jharkhand High Court, dismissing his petition against the arrest and seeking interim bail to campaign in elections.
Jharkhand will vote in the fourth phase of the elections on May 20.
