Probe Agency Team Visits Hemant Soren’s Delhi Home In Case Linked To Land Scam

An Enforcement Directorate team on Monday visited the Delhi residence of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to question him in connection with a money laundering investigation in an alleged land fraud case. Official sources claimed he was “missing” and could not be contacted by the agency.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, who had left for Delhi from Ranchi on January 27 night, has sent an email to the agency in which he has agreed to a fresh round of questioning by the ED investigators on January 31 at his Ranchi residence around 1 pm.

Officials of the federal probe agency accompanied by Delhi Police personnel reached the 5/1 Shanti Niketan building in South Delhi around 9 am and were still there till late evening, while several media teams stood outside.

“We came to the residence of the chief minister to question him but he is not here. The ED teams also went to the Jharkhand Bhawan and a few other locations but could not find the chief minister,” a source said.

The ED teams will be at the residence till Mr Soren returns, the sources said, adding that authorities are also keeping a vigil at the Delhi airport.

The federal agency had questioned Mr Soren at his official residence in Ranchi on January 20 in the alleged land fraud case and had issued a fresh summons to him asking him to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31, the sources said.

Mr Soren had sent a communication to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) but had not confirmed the date and time for questioning, according to the sources.

While the chief minister’s office was tightlipped on the development, Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan said he was keeping a watch on the situation in the state in the wake of the ED summons to the CM.

“I am keeping a watch on the overall situation as the custodian of the Constitution. It is the job of the Governor, I am doing it. We will cross the bridge when it comes,” he told reporters when queried about the options before the Raj Bhavan in the wake of the political situation in the state.

In state capital Ranchi, security was tightened at the CM House, Raj Bhavan and central government offices on Monday as visuals from the south Delhi house of Soren flashed through the day.

A massive rally was also taken out by the JMM workers in Ranchi accusing the ED of targeting Soren, also the executive president of the ruling JMM.

About the possibility of imposition of the President’s Rule in the state, the governor said it was just “guesswork” at present, adding that political parties should not get involved in it.

On Mr Soren skipping ED summons in connection with a money laundering probe, he said, “I will tell you one thing – nobody is above the law… If the CM is not responding today, he has to respond tomorrow. ” 

A top Jharkhand government official said, “It is an unprecedented situation here. No one knows the whereabouts of the chief minister.” The agency had recorded the statement of the 48-year-old chief minister for the first time in the case on January 20 after investigators went to his official residence in Ranchi.

They recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the about seven hours they spent at his home and put about 17-18 questions to the CM.

It is understood that as the questioning did not finish on that day, the fresh summons was issued.

The investigation pertains to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the 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.