Hemant Soren, former Chief Minister of Jharkhand
Ranchi: Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren has filed a petition in the Jharkhand High Court against the summons of the Enforcement Directorate. His petition will be heard in the High Court on Thursday at 10.30 am. ED arrested him late night after long interrogation. Before his arrest, Hemant Soren reached Raj Bhavan during ED custody and submitted his resignation to the Governor. The Governor has accepted his resignation.
Arrested after more than seven hours of interrogation
The ED on Wednesday arrested Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren after over seven hours of questioning on money laundering charges linked to an alleged land fraud case. Official sources gave this information. Before his arrest, Soren submitted his resignation as Jharkhand Chief Minister to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan and was then taken to the ED office here. Sources claimed that 48-year-old Soren was not clear in his answers during questioning and hence he was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Enforcement Directorate will produce Soren before a special PMLA court here and request his custody for custodial interrogation. The agency asked Soren 15 questions during the second round of questioning in the case. Soren was interrogated for the first time on January 20.
So far 14 people have been arrested in the case
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was shown his typed statements recorded with the agency and his signature was sought on these documents before being taken into custody. However, it is not clear whether he has signed them or not. The money laundering charges against Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Soren relate to his alleged links with the ‘land mafia’ besides alleged illegal possession of certain immovable properties. According to the central agency, the investigation is linked to a “large racket of illegal change of land ownership by mafias” in Jharkhand. The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011 batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as director of the state social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi. Bhanu Prasad Prasad, an employee of Jharkhand Land Revenue Department, has also been arrested by the agency in the case. (input language)
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