Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren lodges FIR against ED officers in Ranchi over searches at Delhi house

Soren wrote in his complaint that the ED officials had informed the media of the purported search to create a media spectacle and cause disrepute to him in the eyes of the general public.

“An FIR has been lodged against some senior ED officials… we got the application from the chief minister,” said Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Sinha.

The FIR has been registered under SC/ST Act sections 3(1) (p) [instituting false, malicious or vexatious legal proceedings], (r) [intentional insult or intimidation to humiliate to any place within public law], (s) [abusing by caste name in any place within public view], (u) [promoting feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will].

The FIR named ED Additional Director Kapil Raj, Assistant Director Deovrat Jha, and two other officials Anuman Kumar and Aman Patel, and unknown officials.

Soren said that when he arrived in Ranchi, he saw that the electronic and print media had carried news that a search operation was conducted in Jharkhand Bhawan and Shanti Niketan in New Delhi.

Soren said that this was done to harass and malign; him and his entire community. “The local coverage in the media of the following…is designed against me as a member of Schedule Tribes,” stated the complaint lodged on January 31 by Soren.

In the complaint, Soren said he visited New Delhi on January 27 and 28 and stayed at Shanti Niketan taken on lease by the state for residence and office use.

“On January 29, I came to learn that the above named persons along with others had carried out a purported search at the said premises. This purported search was without any notice to me nor was my presence required on January 29…In fact, the above named persons (Kapil Raj and others) had required me to be present at Ranchi on 29th and 31st January. However, from the extensive coverage by national and Jharkhand based print and electronic media, it is obvious that the above named persons had informed the media of the purported search so as to create a media spectacle and cause disrepute to me in the eyes of the general public,” the FIR stated quoting Soren.

Soren also said that he came to learn from media reports on January 30 that “ED officials have leaked selective misinformation that a blue BMW car seized from Shanti Niketan belonged to him as well as huge sums of illicit cash”.

“I am not the owner of the BMW car…I do not own any illicit cash. The above named persons (Kapil Raj and others) and unknown others who are not members of any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe have done the aforesaid acts intentionally to humiliate me in public…(they) have instituted false, malicious and vexatious criminal proceedings against me…My family members and I have suffered and experienced immense mental, psychological and emotional harm because of the acts committed by them,” the FIR stated.

An ED team searched Soren’s Delhi residence on Monday, and camped there for almost 13 hours to question him in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land deal in Jharkhand. At the time of filing the report, Soren was being questioned by ED sleuths at his Ranchi residence regarding the same case.

After the agency’s visit to Soren’s residence, the ruling coalition’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had said that the ED’s action was unwarranted given that Soren had sent his availability via a letter to ED. Soren’s JMM said that he had responded to ED on January 28 (Sunday) stating that he would be available for questioning on January 31 at 1 pm at his residence.

JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya had said: “ED’s spontaneous arrival at the official residence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren early in the morning of January 29 with hundreds of personnel with firearms does not appear to be legal. After all, what was the hurry that the ED officials could not wait even for two days for the interrogation and that, too, when seven hours of interrogation had already taken place a week ago?”

The party said it was an insult to the honour and respect of a CM as well as to the 3.5 crore people of the state.

Bhattacharya asked: “Have constitutional institutions such as ED become puppets in the hands of the BJP? Will these agencies make or break a government in a state? Can the central government do anything to Chief Ministers when they visit the nation’s capital? Do Chief Ministers of different states of this country have to remain restricted to their respective regions?”

BJP state president Babulal Marandi had earlier said that because of the fear of ED, Soren has absconded from his residence in Delhi and has gone underground for the past 18 hours. Before Soren appeared with his MLAs on Tuesday, Marandi had posted a “CM Missing” poster on X.

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