New Delhi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren is reportedly untraceable after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at his residence in connection with an alleged money laundering case pertaining to land fraud in the national capital here on Monday. As per the federal probe agency, there are no whereabouts of Soren. The agency had visited three places in Delhi to find him, but to no avail.
Reacting to present developments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dr Nishikant Dubey took a dig at Hemant Soren saying the honour and respect of the people of Jharkhand were destroyed by the Chief Minister with his disappearance. Taking to social media, Dubey posted, “Today the honour and respect of the people of Jharkhand were destroyed by our Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji with his vanishing.”
In the latest development on Tuesday, sources claimed that ED has recovered Rs 36 lakhs cash and also seized cars from the Delhi residence of Jharkhand CM Soren during the search in an alleged money laundering case. ED officials on Monday visited his two houses and Jharkhand Bhawan to find him out, but Soren was not found there. Over 13 hours, the ED team camped at the residence of Soren in South Delhi’s Shanti Niketan. According to sources, Soren left his Delhi residence late on Sunday night.
In his second post, Dubey wrote that the CM would reach Ranchi through roadways as he fears facing questioning from the ED. “A big piece of advice to those who are doing wrong on the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, the Chief Minister is proving himself to be a fugitive, he is running away from facing the investigating agency. How will he protect the people of the state?,” Dubey wrote.
Jharkhand BJP unit president Babulal Marandi alleged that Soren has been missing. “Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been missing for the last two days. It is a serious issue that the Director General of Police and the Intelligence Department of the state are not aware of the location of the CM. Hemant Soren has been accused of acquiring illegal property, but his reply is being sent to the ED on behalf of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat,” alleged Marandi.
The BJP leader has also said, in his post on X, that whoever provides information about the Chief Minister will be given a reward. “There is a constitutional crisis in the state due to the sudden disappearance of Hemant Soren... whoever gives correct information about the Chief Minister will be given a suitable reward for our side,” wrote Marandi in his post.
Meanwhile, Section 144 has been imposed within a 100-metre radius of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s residence, Raj Bhavan and ED office in Ranchi following which people are not allowed to gather there. An ED team reached the Delhi residence of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to question him in connection with a money laundering investigation on Monday.
