Champai Soren to become Jharkhand CM as ED arrests Hemant Soren

JMM leader Hemant Soren was arrested on Wednesday night in a money-laundering case after resigning as the Jharkhand chief minister, while Shibu Soren loyalist and state transport minister Champai Soren’s name was proposed as the CM.

Hemant Soren was arrested after a marathon seven hours of grilling by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. He was taken to the ED office where he will undergo a medical check-up, officials said.

Soren tendered his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan, where he went along with alliance legislators.

Congress stake claim

"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.

"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, 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.

Who is Champai Soren?

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.

Sources claimed 48-year-old Hemant Soren was "evasive" in his replies during ED questioning and hence was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

15 questions from ED

The ED is expected to produce Soren before a special PMLA court here and the agency will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, the sources said.

Sources said the agency put across 15 questions to Soren during the second round of questioning in the case. He was first quizzed on January 20.

The JMM leader was shown the typed statements he recorded with the agency and before taking him in custody, his signatures were sought on these documents.

It was, however, not clear if he signed them.

The allegations of money laundering against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader pertain to the alleged illegal possession of certain immovable assets apart from his purported links with members of the 'land mafia'.

With agency inputs