Another opposition leader falls: ED arrests Hemant Soren, he quits as Jharkhand CM

Champai Soren, the state’s Transport Minister and a loyalist of the CM, told reporters, “We have staked claim to form the new government with the support of 47 MLAs.”

Sources, however, said the Governor has told the ruling alliance he will revert on their proposal after considering the legalities. The ruling coalition of JMM, Congress and RJD has 29, 17 and one MLA respectively. In the opposition, the BJP has 26 and the AJSU three. The CPI(M-L) and NCP (AP) have one MLA each while there are two independents.

In a couplet posted on social media following the arrest, Soren wrote that “life is a battle” and he “will fight every moment but not beg for compromise”. He wrote that the “heartache of our people will not be in vain”, and he will “not accept defeat”. “Jai Jharkhand,” he concluded. His party has called for a state-wide bandh today.

Speculation over Soren’s arrest was rife since 5.30 pm, when two mini-buses were seen going inside the CM’s residence. Half an hour later, Chief Secretary L Khyangate and DGP Ajay Kumar Singh arrived at his residence.

The development caps days of drama between Soren and the investigative agency – from the ED searching his Delhi residence to his party lashing out over his image being “maligned”.

The ED has been sending regular summons to Soren in connection with the alleged money laundering case, and he has repeatedly refused to appear before the agency.

He has been questioned thrice so far: The first was in November 2021 in an alleged illegal mining case filed by the ED. The second and the third summons – on January 20 and 31 respectively – pertain to the alleged proceeds of crime connected to the sale and purchase of Army land in Ranchi in which IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan is also an accused. In this case, the ED probe had uncovered alleged illegal sale and purchase of another piece of 8-acre land in Ranchi’s Bargai area. It is in connection with this piece of land that Soren was questioned.

Soren has, in a letter to the ED earlier, clarified that the plot of land in Bargai was “wrongfully alleged to be owned” by him.

Late Wednesday night, Soren filed a writ petition in the Jharkhand High Court against his arrest. The matter will be heard at 10.30 am today.

Earlier in the day, the Jharkhand Police had also lodged an FIR against senior ED officials under the SC/ST Act based on Soren’s complaint with regards to the searches at his Delhi residence. In his police complaint, Soren had alleged that the ED conducted the search operation to “harass and malign him and his entire community”.

He also addressed ED’s claims of a BMW car and cash being seized from the Delhi residence. “I am not the owner of the BMW car… I do not own any illicit cash,” he said, adding that the “aforesaid acts” were done to “intentionally humiliate me in public”.

The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 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.