Hemant Soren moves SC against arrest, says won't cow down

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra agreed to hear the plea of the former Jharkhand chief minister on Friday.

Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Soren, told the apex court that the leader will be withdrawing his plea from the Jharkhand high court on the issue.

Soren was arrested on Wednesday night in the case after resigning as the Jharkhand chief minister, and party loyalist and state transport minister Champai Soren was named as his successor.

He was arrested after a seven-hour grilling by the ED in the money laundering case at his official residence.

Claiming his arrest as "planned", the former CM said that the time has come to wage a war against a feudal system that oppresses poor people, Dalits and tribals.

"I will not cow down...Ultimately truth will prevail," Soren said in a video message recorded just before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and released on Thursday.

"We will have to wage a war against a feudal system that oppresses poor people, Dalits and tribals," he said.

Soren also claimed that he was not linked to the money laundering case in which he was arrested.

"The ED has come to arrest me. After questioning me for the entire day, they decided to arrest me in a planned manner in an issue which is not linked to me. They hatched a conspiracy against me. They (ED) found no evidence and tried to tarnish my image by conducting raids in Delhi," Soren said in the video message.