Minutes after resignation, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren detained by ED

In a dramatic turn of events, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren resigned on Wednesday evening, minutes before being taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, facing inquiries over an alleged money laundering case related to land deals, stepped down after more than five hours of questioning. His loyalist and state Transport Minister, Champai Soren, will assume the role of Chief Minister.

The development comes after days of high-stakes drama between Soren and the ED. The agency had earlier searched his Delhi residence, prompting sharp criticism from the JMM, which accused the ED of “maligning” Soren’s image. Adding to the tension, the Jharkhand Police on Wednesday registered an FIR against senior ED officials under the SC/ST Act based on Soren’s complaint regarding the searches.

“An FIR has been lodged against some senior ED officials... we got the application from the chief minister,” Ranchi’s Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Sinha said.

The Chief Minister alleged that the ED conducted the search operation at his South Delhi residence on Monday to “harass and malign him and his entire community”.

“My family members and I have suffered and experienced immense mental, psychological and emotional harm because of the acts committed...,” Soren said in the FIR, according to the officials.

The ED, however, claimed to have seized Rs 36 lakh in cash, an SUV, and some “incriminating documents” during the search. Notably, Soren disputed ownership of both the car and the cash, denying any connection to them.

Hemant Soren tendered his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan, where he went along with alliance legislators. “We have staked a claim to form the new government with the support of 47 MLAs,” JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the legislators gathered at Hemant Soren’s residence elected the transport minister Champai Soren as the leader of the JMM legislative party with the party spokesperson Vinod Pandey saying that a consensus was reached on his name.

A legislator from the Serikela Assembly constituency for more than three decades since 1991, Champai Soren is known to be a loyalist of JMM supremo Shibu Soren.

Born in November 1956 at Jilinggora village in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai Soren is a matriculate and father of seven children. He is the son of a farmer and is not related to the Hemant Soren’s family.

Earlier, hundreds of ruling JMM workers and supporters from various districts of the state gathered in Ranchi’s Morabadi ground in protest against the questioning of the chief minister. They were holding party banners and posters and displaying bows and arrows, the supporters claimed that Soren was being targeted by the BJP-led central government through the probe agency for his tribal identity.

The ED had last questioned Soren, who is also the executive president of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), on January 20. His interrogation, however, remained incomplete on that day when he was grilled for more than seven hours, official sources said.

Soren, 48, is facing ED interrogation as part of a probe into a “huge racket of illegal change of land ownership by the mafia” in Jharkhand.

ED officials looked for him at his South Delhi residence on January 29 and also kept a watch over private aircraft parked at IGI Airport of Delhi. However, the whereabouts of the chief minister were shrouded in mystery. It is understood that he had left Delhi by a private car and travelled a distance of 1,300 km by road to reach Ranchi.

The ED has, so far, arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state’s social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

“Hemant Soren has resigned as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has proposed the name of senior JMM leader Champai Soren as the new CM,” state Congress president Rajesh Thakur said.