The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reached the residence of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hament Soren to question him in the ongoing money laundering probe. There is buzz that Soren could be arrested by the federal agency following the questioning. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed in the capital city of Ranchi. A three-member team has been formed to oversee the law and order situation in the city. Over 7,000 police personnel have been deployed with a special focus on "strategic locations".
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Ahead of the questioning, Soren held a meeting of leaders from the JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) and Congress. In case Soren is arrested today, his wife Kalpana Soren may be installed as the next chief minister. Champai Soren, who is the transport minister in the state, is the second choice for the chief minister's post, India Today reported on Wednesday.
Sources told that the JMM MLAs signed a letter of support for Kalpana Soren for the chief minister post. Kalpana Soren, who despite not being an MLA, attended the meetings of the lawmakers held on Tuesday.
India Today reported that Hemant Soren has secured the signatures of JMM MLAs on two blank papers during a meeting on Wednesday. Sources said these documents were letters of support for two potential candidates - Kalpana Soren, and Champai Soren - one of which may be presented to the Governor in case Hemant Soren faces arrest.
Soren's questioning comes just two days after a team of ED visited his Delhi residence and seized two cars and Rs 36 lakh cash. The ED team searched the 5/1 Shanti Niketan residence of the JMM leader in south Delhi on Monday and camped there for almost 13 hours to question him. However, Soren was not found for hours and later on Tuesday, he emerged in Ranchi.
The ED's current probe pertains to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand. The central probe agency 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.
An employee of the Jharkhand land revenue department, Bhanu Prasad Prasad, was also arrested by the agency in the case. In the case, the people involved have been accused of generating huge amounts by manipulating official records by showing dummy sellers and purchasers in the guise of forged/bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land worth hundreds of crores.
(With inputs from Poulomi Saha and Himanshu Mishra)