Chief Minister Hemant Soren has reportedly been evading capture for the past eighteen hours, according to the Jharkhand BJP, because of fear of action by the Enforcement Directorate. On January 29, in response to a new summons from Delhi requesting his involvement in an ongoing money laundering probe, he spontaneously travelled there.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), State BJP president Babulal Marandi said, “According to media sources, late at night Hemant ji, wearing slippers and covering his face with a sheet, ran away from his Delhi residence on foot. Ajay Singh, the security personnel of the special branch who went with him to Delhi, is also missing.”
“The mobile phones of both of them have also been switched off. Since then, the ED and Delhi Police have been searching for them. There cannot be any other example of such gross negligence regarding the security of the chief minister,” he added.
On Monday, a team from the Enforcement Directorate went to Soren’s home in Delhi to question him on a money laundering probe related to a suspected land fraud case.
In connection with the matter, Soren was questioned by the federal agency on January 20 at his official Ranchi residence. He was then served with a new summons, which requested that he confirm his availability for questioning on January 29 or January 31.
According to official sources, he was “missing” and the federal agency was unable to get in touch with him.
In addition to certain documents found during the search of Soren’s home, the agency also took a BMW vehicle registered in Haryana, according to sources cited by the news agency.
The agency claims that the probe is focused on a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand.
In connection with the investigation, the ED has already detained 14 people, including Chhavi Ranjan, an IAS officer from the 2011 batch who was the deputy commissioner of Ranchi and the director of the state’s Social Welfare Department.
