The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was discovered to be "missing" when an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team went to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's Delhi home on Monday to interrogate him over a money laundering inquiry.

Asserting that Soren will appear before the investigative agency on Wednesday, the JMM leadership refuted the "confusion" surrounding his location. Another relative said that Soren was the target of a "false" narrative intended to "delegitimize" him. Unidentified member said PTI they had notified the ED of Soren's compliance with the summons, including his readiness to record his testimony at his Ranchi house on January 31, 2024, at 1 pm.

Soren's 10th summons in the land fraud case

The incident began on Monday, when ED inspectors came at Soren's flat at the 5/1 Shanti Niketan building in South Delhi about 9 a.m. After being unable to locate the chief minister, agency agents scoured the premises for more than 13 hours. A Haryana-registered BMW vehicle and some documents were taken from Soren's apartment.  The ED officers had previously been to his official house in Jharkhand.

"An ED team went to the chief minister's house in Delhi to interrogate him, but he was not present. Other teams went to the Jharkhand Bhawan and a few other sites but were unable to locate the chief minister," a source told PTI.

The JMM said that Soren had left Ranchi for Delhi on January 27 for personal reasons and would return. Supriyo Bhattacharya, the party's general secretary, told reporters on Monday that "the way the political situation has been presented is against democratic values."

"The CM has gone to Delhi for personal reasons and will return as well. He received a call on January 31. We're ready for that day. You inquired about the location and time, and we informed you that it would be the CM's house on Kanke Road, with a time of 1 p.m. "Who is causing all of this confusion now?" Bhattacharya said.

However, the BJP's Jharkhand unit stated that the chief minister has been missing for the last 18 hours, fearing ED action, and urged Governor C P Radhakrishnan to take action since the "credibility and reputation of Jharkhand are at stake".

According to media reports, Hemant Soren fled his Delhi home on foot late at night, dressed in slippers and hiding his face with a sheet. "Ajay Singh, the special branch security officer who accompanied him to Delhi, is also missing," Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi stated in a post on X.

"Both of them have turned off their cell phones. Since then, the ED and Delhi Police have been seeking for them. There can be no other case of such blatant neglect regarding the chief minister's security," the former CM stated.

 On January 20, the ED questioned Soren at his official house in Ranchi on the issue. Soren responded to the ED's new summons to confirm his availability for interrogation on either January 29 or January 31, sending an e-mail but without confirming the date or time, according to PTI.

In the email, Soren stated that the ED's activities were "motivated by political agenda" to disrupt the state government's operations, and that its insistence on recording his statement again on or before January 31 smacked of malice. "Preserve video recording of seven-hour questioning (of January 20) to make available to the court of law," Soren said in the email, promising to record his statement on January 31 at the Ranchi house.

The Chief Minister's Office has yet to comment. However, the Jharkhand Governor stated that he was monitoring the situation in the state following the ED summons to the Chief Minister. 

"I am keeping a watch on the overall situation as the custodian of the Constitution. It is the job of the Governor, I am doing it. We will cross the bridge when it comes," he told reporters.

Rajesh Thakur, the head of the Jharkhand Congress, said that a "well-designed conspiracy" was causing doubt over Soren's location. "Attempts are being made to create the impression that the President's rule would be enforced in the state. People are circulating notions that the Chief Minister is absent," Thakur stated.

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