Hemant Soren arrested by ED after over 7 hours of questioning

Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate after they questioned him at his residence on Wednesday in connection with an alleged land scam.

ED officials reached Soren's house in Ranchi on Wednesday afternoon to question him.

They had gone to his Delhi residence on Monday to question him but said he was 'untraceble'. ED also searched his Delhi house and seized Rs 36 lakh, an SUV and some "incriminating" documents.

Earlier, the ED had recorded the statement of the 48-year-old chief minister on January 20 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The investigation pertains to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the agency.

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.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hemant Soren filed a complaint against ED officials accusing them of harassment.

Soren alleged that the ED conducted the search operation at his residence in the national capital to "harass and malign him and his entire community", the officials said, quoting the FIR.

"An FIR has been lodged against some senior ED officials... we got the application from the chief minister," Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Sinha told PTI.

"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 FIR has been lodged under sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act that include instituting false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings against a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe besides intentionally insulting or intimidating "with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view".

The sections also include abuse of any member of SC/ST by caste name in any place within public view or by words either written or spoken promoting feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will against them by "whoever, not being a member of a SC or a ST".

with PTI inputs