Hemant Soren held by ED after he quits as CM, names Champai Soren successor

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday evening after over seven hours of questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

The arrest came shortly after he tendered his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan and named his close aide and Transport Minister Champai Soren as successor. All MLAs of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and allies Congress and RJD accompanied Hemant and Champai. Sources claimed 48-year-old Hemant was “evasive” in his replies during his questioning and hence was taken into custody. Amid heightened speculations of his imminent arrest following searches conducted by the central agency at his Delhi residence, Hemant also lodged an FIR against senior ED officials under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the SC/ST police station in Ranchi. He alleged that the ED searched his Delhi house to “harass and malign him and the entire ST community”.

Hemant alleged in the FIR that the ED officials informed the media of the purported search “to create a media spectacle and cause disrepute to him”. The ED had seized Rs 36 lakh in cash and a BMWX7, costing around Rs 1 crore, from his residence. The ex-CM claimed neither the car nor the illicit cash belonged to him.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Hemant’s arrest was a “blow to federalism”. “The one who does not go with Modi will go to jail. Sending ED against Hemant Soren and forcing him to resign is a blow to federalism. Intimidating opposition leaders by making the provisions of PMLA draconian is part of the BJP’s tool kit,” he said.

JMM MP Mahua Manjhi said the ruling alliance had “adequate numbers” to elect Champai the next CM. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey claimed that Champai’s name was proposed as the JMM legislative party leader after Hemant couldn’t make his wife Kalpana the CM due to “opposition from within his family”.

The investigation into the laundering case is linked to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand.

The ED has so far arrested 14 persons, including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the Director of the state’s Social Welfare Department and the Ranchi DC.

The allegation against Soren is that he benefitted from massive proceeds of crime generated by manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of bogus documents to acquire huge land banks valued crores.

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