Ranchi (The Hawk): On Thursday, Hemant Soren was questioned for more than nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged Rs 1 billion illegal stone and sand mining case in the Sahibganj district in the state of Bihar.
Soren arrived at the regional office of the ED at approximately 11:50 a.m. Soren (47) exited the ED's office at 9:40 p.m. and drove home with his wife Kalpana, who had arrived at their residence around 9 p.m. JMM central general secretary and party spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya stated, "The CM has not been given a new date to appear before the ED." Earlier in the day, Soren had rejected the allegations and claimed he was being framed as part of a larger political conspiracy during a press briefing.
The Ranchi administration erected a three-tier security ring around the ED's airport road office at Hinno and deployed more than 200 policemen from the Rapid Action Force of the state police as thousands of JMM supporters gathered in the state capital to vent their ire against the federal government and its agencies.
Basant Soren, his brother and a lawmaker, accompanied Soren to the ED office. While Basant was not permitted to enter the office, Soren entered on his own. Basant stated shortly after Soren entered, "BJP is harassing the CM due to the JMM's rising popularity in the state. The CM will respond to all of ED's allegations."
After Soren's return, Congress state president Rajesh Thakur stated, "Everything is fine; the UPA MLAs will meet at the chief minister's residence on Friday."
Meanwhile, ED officials remained tight-lipped regarding the results of their interrogation.
According to sources, the investigators rejected Soren's claims that the amount of stone quarried and shipped from Sahibganj represented only 20% of the nearly nine crore metric tonnes of stone mined in Jharkhand over the past few years. Soren's interrogation kept the incumbent Mahagathbandhan government of JMM, Congress, and RJD on edge, as its ministers and legislators remained at the CM's residence and closely monitored the unfolding of events. Soren was questioned after ED agents arrested his constituency representative Pankaj Mishra in July and discovered the CM's signed cheques and passbooks in his possession.
The Enforcement Directorate asserted that Mishra controlled the illegal mining activities in Sahibganj and that Rs 42 crore in illicit proceeds were traced to him. Previously, Soren asserted that he was summoned immediately following the governor's atomic bomb joke and hinted at a larger plot to frame him. He stated that the Enforcement Directorate was making sensational claims without verifying the facts, as it would take four times as many stones to illicitly amass Rs 1 trillion. Using data from the mining department, he provided a point-by-point refutation of the ED's accusations, arguing that it is impossible for Rs 1 trillion in illegal royalties to have been paid. Soren was ridiculed by Godda MP Nishikant Dubey and former CM Babulal Marandi. Dubey stated that his statements were made out of fear, and as the son of "andolankari" Shibu Soren, he should face the ED if he is innocent. However, Marandi stated that it requires "brains" to comprehend that the ED is investigating illegal mining and not royalty theft.
(Inputs from Agencies)