Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday emailed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying that the central agency's order summoning him before the 31st of this month "reeks of malice and reveals your political agenda to disrupt the functioning of the State Government," as the Budget Session of the Legislative Assembly will be held between 2nd and 29th February 2024.
The email comes amid reports that the CM has been 'missing' since he left for Delhi late on Sunday and ED officials visited his Delhi residence on Monday. The ED has been conducting searches for Soren who allegedly quietly left his Delhi residence in the wee hours of Monday, hardly a few hours before the ED team reached there.
In the same email, Soren has agreed to record his statement on January 31 at 1 pm at his official residence.
On Tuesday morning, Section 144 of the CrPc was imposed within a 100 meter radius of Hemant Soren's official residence, the Raj Bhavan, and the ED office in Ranchi.
All the legislators of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led ruling alliance in Jharkhand have been asked not to leave the state capital Ranchi and to attend a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the current political situation in the state, a JMM official told PTI. The JMM, Congress and RJD are members of the ruling alliance.
Soren's letter to the ED reads thus, "You are well aware that the Budget Session of the Legislative Assembly will be held between 2nd and 29th February 2024 and the undersigned will be pro-occupied with preparations for the same apart from other prior scheduled official engagements. In these circumstances, your insistence to record a further statement of the undersigned on or before 31st January 2024 reeks of malice and reveals your political agenda to disrupt the functioning of the State Government and prevent an elected representative of the people from discharging his official duties. The undersigned's apprehensions that your acts are malefice and politically motivated stand vindicated. The issuance of summon to the undersigned is wholly vexatious and in the colourable exercise of powers given by the statute."
ED seizes Rs 36 lakh, SUV from Soren's Delhi house
Meanwhile, ED officials who visited Soren's Delhi residence on Monday in connection with the ongoing probe into a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam said that the Chief Minister could not be located.
The federal agency searched the 5/1 Shanti Niketan residence of the JMM leader in south Delhi and camped there for almost 13 hours. Sources told PTI the ED has seized Rs 36 lakh in cash, a Haryana number plate bearing BMW registered under a "benami" name, and some "incriminating" documents.
'Missing CM'
The BJP had alleged on Monday that Soren has "gone missing."
"Today, the honour and respect of the people of Jharkhand were destroyed by our Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, just by going missing," BJP parliamentarian from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey, wrote on X.
The ED has reportedly issued fresh summons to Soren asked him to be available for questioning on January 29 or 31, threatening to go to him directly if he did not turn up. This is the tenth summons issued to the Jharkhand Chief Minister by the ED.
On January 20, Soren was questioned at his official residence in Ranchi in the alleged land scam case.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya on Monday had said that CM Soren was ready to appear before the central agency on January 31.
"The CM has gone to Delhi for personal work, and he will return as well. He has been called on January 31. We are ready for January 31. You asked us to tell you the place and time, and we told you the place would be CM's residence on Kanke Road and the time would be 1 pm. Who is creating all the confusion, then? The way the political situation is being presented is against democratic values," Bhattacharya said.
Reactions to situation in state
Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Tuesday said that he has no information about the CM. "Just as no one has information about the Chief Minister, similarly I too do not have information. We are also waiting for the CM's response; the attitude of the ruling party workers is not good," he told ANI.
Meanwhile, BJP's Nishikant Dubey has alleged that Soren's wife Kalpana Soren may replace him and that the Jharkhand chief minister has called all allied MLAs to reach Ranchi "with their luggage."
Dubey asked how a man who is absconding will protect the people of the state.
"A big advice to those who are doing wrong on the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, the CM is proving himself to be a fugitive, running away from facing the investigating agency, the man is facing insults in the country and abroad all day long. How will that man protect the officers or the people of the state?" the BJP leader wrote on X.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI, Online Desk)
