Jharkhand: Hemant Soren arrested in land scam
The former chief minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren was arrested in a land scam case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at 9.33 pm on January 31.
He had resigned and submitted his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan just before getting arrested, after seven hours of questioning at his official residence in Ranchi, the state capital. The ED accompanied Soren to the governor’s residence.
The case pertains to the alleged purchase and sale of tribal land by forging documents between 2020 and 2022.
If Hemant Soren had not resigned and continued as chief minister, according to a tweet by journalist Arvind Gunasekar, the BJP government at the Centre, through the governor, could have used that as a ground to invoke Article 356 citing ‘failure of constitutional machinery’ and placed the state under President’s Rule.
Hemant Soren has challenged the arrest, which case will be up for hearing at Jharkhand High Court on February 1.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Champai Soren, a close aide, was elected leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha legislature party.
He has letters of support from 43 MLAs, he told the media. Four others who support the government are in hospital. The party needs the support of 41 MLAs to keep the government. The Congress is part of the ruling alliance.
He accompanied Hemant Soren to the governor’s residence and submitted the letters of support but the latter has as yet refused to give time to him to form the government, Champai told the media.
“We will not allow President’s rule to be imposed in Jharkhand because we have the numbers to form the government. Ever since we formed the government, the BJP has been trying hard to dethrone the government of our leader,” another MLA Mithilesh Thakur said.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is among the 25 parties (26 when formed, when JD(U) was a part of it) that form the INDIA block of Opposition parties.
Several Opposition leaders have spoken put against his arrest, saying this is a tactic by the BJP to seize power in Jharkhand and discredit a chief minister just before the general election.
It may be noted that there have allegedly been efforts by the BJP government at the Centre to get Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal arrested as well in a liquor scam. His party AAP is a prominent part of the INDIA alliance.
Hemant Soren became chief minister in 2019. Election is scheduled in November or December 2024.
The ED had questioned Hemant Soren for over eight hours on January 20 at his official residence in Ranchi, after he skipped eight summons last year.
On January 29, a team of four ED officials visited Soren’s residence in Delhi but could not find him. They seized a blue BMW car and a huge sum of cash from there.
He, however, has denied that either belong to him and has also filed a case at the SC/ST police station in Ranchi (being a tribal), alleging harassment by the four ED officials.
