Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of manufacturing evidence against former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. Soren, who is currently in ED custody for a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud, was remanded for five days by a special PMLA court in Ranchi on Friday.


Sibal, who is representing Soren in the case, raised serious concerns about the legitimacy of the arrest, news agency PTI reported. He questioned the basis of Soren's detention, stating, "What is happening in this country? There are no transactions, connections, telephone conversations, or visits between Bhanu Pratap (tax department official arrested under ECIR by ED) and Hemant Soren. On what basis have they (ED) arrested Hemant Soren?"


Sibal went on to assert that the ED deliberately avoided taking Pratap into custody earlier because they aimed to implicate Soren. "They did not take Pratap in custody earlier because they wanted to take Hemant (Soren) into custody and then take a production warrant and make him (Pratap) say that 'Hemant is involved,'" Sibal alleged at a press conference, as quoted by PTI.


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Expressing skepticism, Sibal stated that Pratap would now be taken into police custody and coerced to implicate Soren. He criticised the ED's tactics, saying, "You say that in April 2023, you knew Hemant was involved, but you didn't do any questioning from Bhanu Pratap about it, didn't take him to police remand. Now, they will take him in remand and implicate Hemant."


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Sibal accused the ED of making a criminal a star witness in the case, raising doubts about the credibility of the organisation. "This is the kind of credibility that this organisation (ED) has, to try and implicate people, to destabilise governments, and ensure sitting CMs are accused on the basis of fabricated evidence," he remarked.


When asked if he was insinuating that the probe agency was manufacturing evidence against Soren, Sibal responded, "This is their job. This is the sad state of affairs in the country." He further alleged that the BJP aims to target opposition leaders, remove them from power, and hinder their participation in the 2024 polls. "They want to do politics of fear and misuse agencies to return to power," Sibal claimed, as per PTI.


Sibal had previously expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court's refusal to interfere in Soren's arrest, stating that the court should have considered the merits of the case. He urged the court to establish criteria for when it should be approached by individuals. Sibal had earlier alleged that Soren is being targeted as the BJP-led Centre seeks to remove opposition chief ministers from power.


In a setback for Soren, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with his arrest on Friday, directing him to seek relief from the high court instead. A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh, and Bela M Trivedi advised senior advocates Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi, representing Soren, to approach the high court for relief.


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