ED summons Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in illegal mining probe
The ED has summoned Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren for questioning on Thursday in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged illegal mining in the state.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren for questioning on Thursday in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged illegal mining in the state, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Soren has been asked to appear at ED’s Ranchi’s office, said officials, asking not to be named. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader will be asked about the activities related to illegal mining and transportation on a large scale in alleged association with his political aide Pankaj Mishra, who was arrested in July in the case. The federal agency has also arrested Mishra’s aides, Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash, in the case.
Soren (47) has been called for questioning as Mishra was using his close association with the chief minister to actively indulge in illegal mining and diverting crores of rupees from the mining activities in the state, said an official, requesting anonymity. Bank documents of Soren were also recovered during raids at Mishra’s premises in Sahebganj on July 8, the official added.
In its charge sheet against Mishra, Yadav and Prakash filed in September, ED said it recovered “a sealed envelope containing a passbook and two cheque books containing two signed cheques, all pertaining to Bank of India account of Hemant Soren”.
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Among other items ED recovered during raids and which are mentioned in the charge sheet, include “one yellow color file marked as April 2019 to June 2022 having all bank details of Hemant Soren” and his family members.
Besides, several tender documents were also recovered during the raids.
The agency has claimed that huge illegal mining activities were taking place in Jharkhand’s Sahebganj district along with the transportation of such stolen minerals through roads, railways and inland vessels and the money generated through this illegal activity was moved and controlled by accused persons through “political patronage”.
“Mishra has been using his influence and dominance to control mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas and has control over the mining of stone boulders and chips as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahebganj,” stated the charge sheet.
Asserting that Mishra carried out illegal mining activities extensively through his associates, the charge sheet added that “this is done by exerting dominance and fear among common people and misusing his capacity of the representative of the chief minister, Hemant Soren”.
A second official cited above said that Soren’s statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) about all these aspects on Thursday.
Calling it a “conspiracy” to destabilise his government, Soren on Wednesday said the people of the state would give a befitting reply to the opposition.
“I have also been called (by ED). But I am not afraid. They are trying to show how powerful ED is. They want to show that if they can summon Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, then why can’t they call a chief minister,” Soren said while addressing a gathering at Sahebganj as part of his government’s outreach programme. “If they think they can malign our image, then they are confused. Since they can’t fight politically, they are hatching this conspiracy.”
Jharkhand BJP president Deepak Prakash rubbished the allegations, saying law was taking its own course.
“Law is same for the ruler and a commoner. Perhaps Jharkhand is going to be established as the first state where corruption was sponsored by the state, right from the top,” he said. “People in top echelons of power are now in jail for looting the state’s mines and resources. The CM was granting lease to himself and land to his family members.”
On Wednesday, Soren got into a huddle with the legislators of ruling alliance partners, including the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, at his residence to chalk out future strategy.
The state government, meanwhile, decided to call a day-long special session of the legislative assembbly on November 11 to pass a bill to fix 1932 as the base year to decide domicile in the state, changing it from the prevailing cut off year of 1985. The state cabinet has already cleared the bill.
An official from the state government, requesting anonymity, said that Soren is unlikely to appear before ED on Thursday. “The chief minister is scheduled to go to Raipur to attend the tribal festival on Thursday which was fixed long back,” said the official. “The CM is also scheduled to attend cabinet and special session besides attending Sarkar Aapke Dwar programmes in different districts on different dates.”
The state’s public relations department later in the day released the list of important official engagements of the chief minister from November 3 to November 15.
The federal agency initiated a probe into the illegal mining in March this year but it gained momentum in July when 47 places were raided between July 8 and August 28 in Sahebganj, Barhait, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki, Barharwa and other places in Jharkhand.
The agency is learnt to have identified proceeds of crime worth ₹1,000 crore so far in the illegal mining in the state.
“The PMLA investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys a political clout, being the representative of the chief minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahebganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices,” ED claimed in a statement after filing the charge sheet in September. “He (Mishra) exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahebganj.”
A second instance where cash linked to alleged illegal mining in the state was unearthed pertains to the ED action against suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Singhal in May. The 2000-batch IAS officer was arrested by ED as part of the money laundering probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in MGNREGA scheme. Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest in May.
Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband Abhishek Jha, was also arrested by the agency and cash amounting to ₹19.76 crore was seized by it.
ED’s summons to Soren have come months after the Election Commission of India (EC) — in August — sent a report to Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bias ostensibly recommending Soren’s disqualification as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining lease.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that Soren violated the office of profit rules and sought his disqualification for “misusing” his official position to get the lease. Soren has rejected the allegation and his lawyers before the ECI said the mining lease was not executed and he sought cancellation of the consent to operate it in February, which means he did not get any benefit from the lease. Soren contended that Section 9A of the Representation of People Act that allows disqualification, was not applicable in his case as the lease is not a government contract.
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On Wednesday, Soren said he was not worried till the people of the state were with him. “They started with a probe in MNREGA in Khunti. Then they dragged it to Sahebganj (related to illegal mining). This has been done just to stop your chief minister from working. But you don’t have to bother, we will give them an appropriate reply,” said Soren. “The only reason behind this conspiracy is to destabilise a goverment led by a tribal as I am working for upliftment of tribals, Dalits and minorities.”
Soren’s JMM also threatened to start a “street-to-assembly battle” against the “conspiracy” to “destabilise” the state goverment.
“The conspiracy started in 2020 itself. The opposition is using the central agency to encroach in governance and destablise the government. They want to rob the mandate of 2019 which was historic in the two-decade history of Jharkhand,” said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. “We are prepared to give them adequate reply and launch a street-to-assembly fight akin to what we did during Jharkhand movement, which is still remembered by people.”
Hitting back at Soren, BJP state chief Deepak Prakash said the CM should stop covering his deeds in name of tribal politics. “The BJP has had two tribal CMs — Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda. Never ever a corruption charge made against them. On the other hand it was the JMM led by Soren family which sold the Jharkhand movement itself for money.”
The opposition BJP has also decided to launch a week-long agitation starting November 7 against the alleged corruption by the Soren government.
“This government came in the name of Jal, Jungle, Zameen (to protect water, forest and land) but the people at the top themselves looted the state’s resources. It’s unfortunate the CM himself and his family members are directly involved in corruption,” said Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Saroj Singh. “CM’ political representative is in jail and people close to him have been questioned by ED. We would launch a statewide protest at the panchayat level.”
