Soren returns to Ranchi, digs heels amid ED hunt

Jharkhand’s ruling coalition reposed faith in embattled chief minister Hemant Soren after a late-evening meeting on Tuesday, capping a dramatic day that saw the 48-year-old leader emerge in Ranchi after driving 1,300km by road from Delhi, where an Enforcement Directorate team missed him a day earlier, sparking a massive political storm over allegations that he was absconding.

The meeting, held at the CM’s residence in Ranchi, was attended by all legislators of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance, and Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren, amid mounting speculation that she might step in as CM if he is arrested by the federal agency.

“I reside in your hearts,” he said in Ranchi after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, while responding to a query regarding his absence.

“We all are committed to following the footsteps and ideologies of the Father of the Nation. We are proud that such people were born among us and guided us,” he added.

All eyes are now on Wednesday, when the ED team is scheduled to record Soren’s statement at 1pm at his residence, the second time in two weeks. JMM leaders have already planned shows of strength across the state and the district administration has clamped prohibitory orders in the vicinity of the CM’s house.

After a two-hour meeting that ended around 9.30pm on Tuesday, legislators of the ruling alliance said they were all with Soren and that he would continue to lead the state.

State health minister Banna Gupta said there was no talk of a “plan B”.

READ | ‘Where is Hemant Soren’ row as ED visits Jharkhand CM's Delhi home

“The entire alliance is with the Hemant Soren government and is united,” Gupta said.

JMM minister Mithilesh Thakur said that these were “normal meetings” to discuss how to best serve the people of Jharkhand. “All is well. Why should we think of something new? It is our opposition that schemes on a daily basis while we are running a government of the people, and talk about their progress. They are not leaving any stone unturned in their dirty tactics but they will not be able to defeat a popular government. Hemant Soren is clean and is our leader. We are all together,” he said.

Senior JMM leaders however did admit that there were four MLAs that were not present in the meeting — Sita Soren, Lobin Hembram, Chamra Linda and Ramdas Soren. JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya however dismissed their absence. “There is nothing serious. Ramdas Soren is undergoing treatment in Delhi. Sita Soren and Chamra Linda will arrive tomorrow. I cannot speak about Lobin Hembram.”

Throughout the day, Soren attempted to project confidence, dismissing allegations by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he had fled from his Delhi residence on Monday when the ED team showed up at 7am. “Where is the problem when I have appeared?” he asked reporters. Soren had skipped ED summons seven times before finally answering questions on January 20 in Ranchi.

In a post on X, state BJP chief Babulal Marandi said: “People heaved a sigh of relief as chief minister Hemant Soren, who had fled on foot from his Delhi residence late on the night of January 28, returned to the CM residence in Ranchi safe and secure, almost 40 hours later.”

Marandi, a former chief minister, also took a dig at Soren, saying how much trouble Soren had faced during his rush to cover the distance of 1,295 km from Delhi to Jharkhand.

READ | Plans underway to make Soren's wife CM if he gets arrested, claims BJP MP

The central agency’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) probe against Soren pertains to an alleged land scam linked to the ownership of a parcel of land measuring 7.16 acres in the Bajra area of Ranchi. It has been alleged that the land parcel was acquired through proceeds of crime involving the illegal sale of army land. Soren has dismissed the case as politically motivated and said that the details of his assets are public.

In the 81-member assembly, the ruling alliance that includes the JMM, Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) has 48 seats while the NDA has 32, of which the BJP holds 26. One seat is vacant.

The drama began around 7.30am on Monday when the agency’s team swooped in on Soren’s residence at Shanti Niketan in Delhi and even sent a team to the airport, but failed to locate him. Sleuths were stationed there till at least 10pm on Monday and seized about ₹36 lakh in cash, a BMW SUV registered in Haryana, and some documents.

The developments prompted the BJP to allege that Soren was absconding in fear.

But Soren – who had landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday and was expected to fly out in a chartered plane owned by a private firm – drove to Ranchi and showed up in the city on Tuesday.

The JMM adopted an aggressive stance.

“I told you yesterday that the CM had gone to Delhi for personal reasons and will return after his work is done. He is not just a CM but an institution, We will soon register a case of defamation against the MP and the president of the main opposition party…It is being said that ₹36 lakh was recovered….The money may have been planted,” said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.

At 2pm, Soren made a public appearance, presiding over a meeting of cabinet ministers and legislators. That half-hour meeting, too, was attended by Kalpana Soren.

The CM then went to Bapu Vatika to garland the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and said that the ideals of Gandhi were still relevant.

“Today is the death anniversary of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Today, we are all here paying our humble tributes to him by garlanding his statue. The path shown by Bapu is relevant in this era and we should be proud that a personality like him was born in our country and guided us. All of us are determined to follow his footprints and carry forward his ideas,” he added.

The morning was tense in Jharkhand with governor CP Radhakrishnan expressing concern and summoning the state chief secretary, home secretary and director general of police to ensure proper law and order.

“In the same way that nobody knows anything about the CM, I also know very little. We are also awaiting the CM’s response. The attitude of the ruling party is not favourable,” Radhakrishnan said.

The Ranchi district administration imposed section 144 in a hundred-metre radius around the CM’s residence, Raj Bhavan and ED office in the morning.

“There is information about protests, demonstrations, processions and rallies by some organisations. The possibility that these cause disruptions in government work, disrupt traffic, create law and order problems and disturb public peace cannot be ruled out,” the prohibitory order issued by Ranchi subdivisional magistrate Utkarsh Kumar said.

Soren, whose government came under a cloud in 2022 over allegations that he had illegally acquired a mining licence, has adopted a combative stance in response to the new allegations of corruption.

The leader conveyed to ED’s Ranchi zone assistant director on Sunday that he will appear before the probe team at his residence at 1pm on January 31. The agency had, on Saturday, asked him to confirm his appearance either on January 29 or January 31 for further questioning in the money laundering probe.

Terming ED’s insistence to record his further statement — he was last questioned in Ranchi on January 20 after skipping summons seven times — as “malicious” and a “political agenda” to disrupt the functioning of state government and preventing him from discharging official duties, Soren wrote in the letter sent to ED on January 28. “The issuance of summon to the undersigned is whole vexatious and in colourable exercise of powers given by the statute,” he said.

“Without prejudice to the undersigned’s rights all of which are expressly reserved, undersigned shall record his statement on January 31, 2024, at 1pm at his residence,” he added in his letter.

The agency has arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011 batch Indian Administrative Service officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as director of the state’s social welfare department, deputy commissioner of Ranchi, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, and businessmen Amit Agrawal and Bishnu Agrawal, who own shopping malls in the state capital.

The JMM dismissed the allegations, saying that Soren had already replied to all possible questions on January 20.

“Most of their questions related to purported inaccuracies in the election affidavit filed with the Election Commission, and three or four questions were related to the plot of land. The CM made it clear that the plot is Bhuinhari land( held by descendents of the original founders of the villages) that could not be sold, and was possessed by the family for the past five decades,” Bhattacharya said.

He said that an elected CM was being treated like a criminal. “Hemant Soren is not Himanta Biswa Sarma, Ajit Pawar or Nitish Kumar. He is the son of brave Shibu Soren,” Bhattacharya said.

But the BJP said the people of Jharkhand had been disrespected by the CM.

“Today, the honour and respect of the people of Jharkhand were destroyed by our chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, just by going missing,” BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said.