The Supreme Court will take up for “urgent” hearing on Friday former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged money-laundering offences relating to a land deal.

On Wednesday evening, Soren tendered his resignation as chief minister, following which he was arrested.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud listed the matter for hearing on Friday upon requests for an "urgent" hearing made by senior counsels Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

“This matter affects the polity of this entire country. Your Lordships, can a man be arrested in this manner?” Sibal asked the bench, which included Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

Sibal told the bench that the constitutionality of Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, had to be examined as it gave sweeping powers to an ED officer of the rank of director, deputy director, assistant director or any other officer to arrest a person on the subjective satisfaction of the officer concerned.

Sibal said Section 19 of the PMLA grants broad powers to an ED officer, including its director, deputy director, assistant director, or any other officer authorised by the Centre, to arrest an individual if there is “reason” to believe the person is involved in an offence under the act.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, argued that the petition should not be entertained as Soren had already approached Jharkhand High Court. “It would be unfair to the high court,” Mehta stated, emphasising that the matter was scheduled for hearing on Thursday on a request from Soren.

However, Sibal said his client was withdrawing the petition from the high court as he wanted the matter to be heard by the Supreme Court.

“We will list this tomorrow,” the CJI said.

Sibal also complained that while the arrest memo says Soren was arrested at 10pm, the former chief minister was stated to have been taken into custody at 5pm.

Additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, said: “There are very serious allegations against him.”

This prompted Sibal to ask: “So before elections, you keep on arresting people?”

The CJI was initially slated to begin the day’s proceedings with the seven-judge bench hearing the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) minority status case. However, due to an urgent request from Soren’s legal team, the CJI, along with Justice Pardiwala and Justice Misra, briefly convened to address the plea for urgent listing. The matter has been rescheduled for Friday.