Curtains are finally down in Ranchi after a long push-and-pull between Hemant Soren, who resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister shortly before his arrest on Wednesday, and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the land scam case.
Soren was arrested after a seven-hour-long interrogation and high drama over nominating his successor. Following a family feud, opposition from his sister-in-law Sita Soren and brother Basanta Soren, both JMM MLAs, Hemant Soren handed over the charge to his loyalist Champai Soren, who was holding the charge of the state’s transport minister.
It took eight ignored summons, disappearing from his official residence and choosing to be ‘untraceable’ for over 40 hours, while the ED officers were waiting to examine him and finally an FIR against senior officials of the ED, including an additional director slapping charges under the sections of stringent SC/ST law, for the directorate to take him into custody in the land scam-related money laundering case.
In 23 years of statehood, Jharkhand has witnessed three of its chief ministers getting arrested in corruption cases — Madhu Koda, Shibu Soren and his now son Hemant Soren.
Soren Jr, one of the prime accused in the land scam case, was allegedly involved in forging old documents related to defence land, handing it over to the land mafias in exchange for heavy kickbacks and laundering a huge amount cash by leasing out the government land parcels.
Two senior IAS officers are behind bars and at least half dozen senior bureaucrats, including IAS and IPS officers, are under the ED scanner in connection with the case. Soren is also an accused in an illegal sand mining case in the state, which is currently under probe by the ED as well.
Hemant Soren’s arrest will have serious political ramifications. This is the second jolt to the INDIA bloc barely 72 hours after Nitish Kumar exited the alliance in Bihar and returned into the NDA fold.
The noose is also getting tighter around RJD leaders in Bihar, including former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi in an alleged land-for-jobs scam. Illegal land dealings, primarily through forgery, have become the common thread between the two political parties in Bihar and Jharkhand.
One of the ‘Tougher’ Cases for the ED
While investigating the case, ED officials said they had to face intimidation and threat, including FIRs against the officers. Hours before being arrested, Soren filed two-page complaint against senior officers of the directorate, including an additional director and deputy directors, accusing them of “harassing” a chief minister because of his “tribal identity”.
A jailed accused named Prem Prakash allegedly conspired to slap fake rape charges on officers and gave ‘contracts’ to kill to Maoists and mercenaries to deter senior investigators of the Enforcement Directorate in Jharkhand.
Accusing Prem Prakash of “directly handling” the proceeds of the alleged illegal mining scam on behalf of Hemant Soren, the ED, in a special leave petition (SLP) submitted before the Supreme Court in December, made several shocking claims. This is also the first time Soren’s name appeared on an official document in connection with the Rs 1,000-crore alleged stone mining scam in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj.
The Allegations
Early last year, an investigation into the forgery of 100-year-old land documents, and subsequent transactions surrounding it, blew the lid off a multi-crore scam in Jharkhand allegedly involving Soren.
It was another flashpoint between the Narendra Modi government and Soren, following the arrest of IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan of the 2011 batch of the Jharkhand cadre in May last year over the alleged land scam that includes at least 35 properties allegedly in possession of Soren.
Besides, the ED is investigating a stone mining scam allegedly involving Soren and JMM party members. One of his MLAs has been arrested in connection with the case. Even before the cases probed by the ED, Soren was embroiled in a controversy over a mining lease, while the opposition BJP pressed for his disqualification from the Legislative Assembly.