Ranchi: JMM leader Hemant Soren was arrested Wednesday night in a money laundering case after resigning as the Jharkhand chief minister, and party loyalist and state transport minister Champai Soren was named as his successor.
Hemant Soren was arrested after a marathon seven hours of grilling by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case at his official residence. He was taken to the ED office for a medical check-up, officials said.
Earlier, Soren went to the Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation accompanied by alliance legislators. The ED team also present there, officials said
“Hemant Soren has resigned as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has proposed the name of senior JMM leader Champai Soren as the new CM,” state Congress president Rajesh Thakur said.
“We have staked a claim to form the new government with the support of 47 MLAs,” JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Soren lodged an FIR against ED personnel over searches conducted by the agency at his Delhi residence Monday, officials said.
Soren alleged that the ED searched to “harass and malign him and his entire community”, the officials said, quoting the FIR.
In a late-night development, Soren moved the Jharkhand High Court, party sources said. However, the reason why he moved to court was not known. His petition will be heard by the bench of Acting Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary at 10.30 am Thursday.
In the morning, legislators gathered at Hemant Soren’s residence elected the transport minister Champai Soren as the leader of the JMM legislative party with party spokesperson Vinod Pandey saying that a consensus was reached on his name.
A legislator from the Serikela assembly constituency for more than three decades since 1991, Champai Soren is known to be a loyalist of JMM supremo Shibu Soren.
Born in November 1956 at Jilinggora village in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai Soren is a matriculate and father of seven children. He is the son of a farmer and is not related to the Hemant Soren’s family.
Sources claimed 48-year-old Hemant Soren was “evasive” in his replies during ED questioning and hence was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED is expected to produce Soren before a special PMLA court here and the agency will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, the sources said.
Sources said the agency put across 15 questions to Soren during the second round of questioning in the case. He was first quizzed January 20.
The JMM leader was shown the typed statements he recorded with the agency and before taking him in custody, his signatures were sought on these documents.
It was, however, not clear if he signed them.
The allegations of money laundering against the JMM leader pertain to the alleged illegal possession of certain immovable assets apart from his purported links with members of the ‘land mafia’.
The investigation is linked to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the central probe agency.
The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state’s Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.
The ED is probing the alleged “huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by manipulation of official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/ bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores’.
Earlier in the day, Soren lodged an FIR against ED personnel over searches conducted by the agency at his Delhi residence Monday, officials said.
He alleged that the ED conducted the search to “harass and malign him and his entire community”, the officials said, quoting the FIR.
“An FIR has been lodged against some senior ED officials… We got the application from the chief minister,” Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Sinha told PTI.
An ED team searched Soren’s Delhi residence Monday, and camped there for almost 13 hours in order to question him in the money laundering case.
The agency claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some “incriminating” documents during the search.
“My family members and I have suffered and experienced immense mental, psychological and emotional harm because of the acts committed…,” he said in the FIR, according to the officials.
The chief minister claimed that he was not the owner of the seized car, and the cash recovered did not belong to him as well, they said.
Health Minister and Congress leader Banna Gupta said Soren cooperated in the investigation, but added that it was the duty of constitutional institutions to conduct such probes “properly”.
Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh told PTI that all legislators stand solidly behind the chief minister.
Hundreds of ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) workers and supporters gathered in Ranchi’s Morabadi ground in protest against the questioning of Soren.
Holding party banners and posters and displaying bows and arrows, the supporters claimed that the CM was being targeted by the BJP-led central government through the probe agency for his tribal identity.
With prohibitory orders imposed within a radius of 100 metres at key locations in the state capital, the protests were organised at Morabadi ground, a few kilometers away from Soren’s residence.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi said, “Since the time Hemant Soren became the CM, I have written several letters to him warning about the wrongdoings, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t pay attention to work, instead focused on earning. If he was honest enough, he should have responded to ED’s notices earlier.”
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash said, “In four years of rule, Hemant Soren looted Jharkhand. He was part of liquor scam, land scam and mining scam. But nobody is bigger than law, all are same under it.”
