The Jharkhand High Court is likely to hear former Chief Minister Hemant Soren's petition against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 5.


Supreme Court on Friday asked Soren to approach the Jharkhand High Court first and refused to entertain his petition against the arrest by the ED in relation to an alleged money laundering scam.


Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren, told the top court on Friday that the matter pertains to a chief minister who has been arrested. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also appearing for Soren, said that the court has concurrent powers to hear the case.


ALSO READ | 'Why should you not go to High Court?': SC Refuses To Entertain Hemant Soren's Plea Against ED Arrest


However, the top court said that high courts are constitutional courts too and Soren must first approach before the high court.


A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi heard the matter today.


Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked Sibal, "Why should you not go to the High Court?"

He further added that courts are open to everybody. Second, high courts are constitutional courts. If we permit one person, then we have to permit everyone.


The high court heard Soren's petition on Thursday. Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31.


The case was listed for hearing before a high court bench of acting Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary.


On Thursday, Sibal appearing for Soren informed the high court that Soren has been wrongly detained by the ED and was He said his client has been politically victimised.


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However, on the same day a petition was also moved before the Supreme Court on behalf of Soren challenging his arrest by the ED.


Following this a withdrawal petition was filed in the high court. However, the counsel for the ED appearing before the high court objected and sought more time before the high court to file a response to Soren’s petition. 


Then the high court listed the case for February 5. After the developments in the Supreme Court on Friday, it is expected that the case will be taken up by the high court on Monday (February 5)


--With inputs from Veeresh Pandey