Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren files police complaint against ED officials amid grilling: Report

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday filed a complaint against officials of Enforcement Directorate, which is questioning him in connection with a land scam case, ANI reported.

According to the Ranchi Police, the complaint filed by Soren has been received at Dhurwa police station.

The ED officials are currently questioning Soren, who had skipped several summons issued to him. Security was tightened and Section 144 imposed around his residence. The CM’s party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha held a show of strength with the MLAs assembling at the CM’s residence on Kanke Road.

“Our chief minister is being deliberately harassed by the ED on directions from the Centre… We will resort to economic blockade in the entire state,” one of the agitators told news agency PTI.

Soren, 48, had earlier been questioned in connection with the case on January 20. The interrogation, however, remained incomplete on that day when he was grilled for more than seven hours, an official said.

The chief minister is being questioned as part of a probe into a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, ED officials have said.

In an email to the probe agency, Soren had alleged that its actions were “motivated by political agenda” to disrupt the state government’s functioning, and claimed that the insistence to record his statement again on or before January 31 “reeked of malice”.