Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate's questioning of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with a money laundering case - which began Wednesday afternoon at his Ranchi home, after drama over a "missing Chief Minister" in the previous 48 hours - could end with his arrest, sources have said.
Probe agency officials have been camped out at his residence for over seven hours and there is heavy police presence inside and outside the building. Among the high-ranking officials to have rushed there now are Ajay Kumar, the state's Director-General of Police, and L Khiangate, the government's Chief Secretary.
The latest visuals from outside Mr Soren's home show large numbers of police and security personnel, some of whom are armed, guarding the entry gate. Police jeeps and vehicles line the street.
Section 144 - an order that bans gatherings of four or more people - is in effect in the area.
The ruling JMM is en route to meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan, with reports suggesting Transport Minister Champai Soren, who also holds the portfolio for Welfare of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, and Backward Classes, will be put forward as the new Chief Minister.
Should Mr Soren be arrested, it will trigger a furious pushback from his JMM, which has accused the centre of acting to target and bring down the Chief Minister.
READ | Hemant Soren Files Case Against Probe Agency Under SC/ST Act
Mr Soren has filed a police case - under sections of the SC/ST Act - against ED senior officers - with specific reference to its "illegal" search of his Delhi home on Tuesday - in which he said the actions had harassed and maligned his community.
Mr Soren's likely arrest will also see the explosion of a war of succession brewing behind the scenes, where members of the Chief Minister's family are getting set to challenge what is understood to be his plan to install his wife, Kalpana Soren, in his place, much as RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav made his wife, Rabri Devi, Chief Minister of Bihar years ago.
READ | Hemant Soren's Wife May Be Named Chief Minister If He's Arrested
All of this comes over 48 hours after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader went "missing" from his Delhi residence.
READ | Plane In Delhi, BMW Seized, 'Missing' Hemant Soren Pops Up In Ranchi
Mr Soren, 48, had earlier been questioned on January 20, after which the agency issued a second summons for this week. Sources told ANI said the agency offered him two dates - January 29 or 31.
The agency, sources within which said the first interrogation had not been completed, said it would take action on its own if no date was selected. Last week the Jharkhand leader said he would be available at his Ranchi home 1 pm on January 31.
However, before that there was drama and controversy, with Mr Soren flying into Delhi Saturday in a private plane, and then disappearing from his home in the national capital by Sunday night.
He reportedly took a secretive nearly 1,300-km road trip back home.
READ | Hemant Soren's 1,300 km Delhi-Ranchi Car Journey, Evading ED
The ED, meanwhile, turned up at in Delhi home early Monday (January 29), didn't find him, and searched the building, allegedly finding Rs 36 lakh in cash, which was seized, as was his luxury SUV.
Mr Soren is being questioned as part of an investigation into a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, ED officials have said. Fourteen people have been arrested in this case so far.
Amid speculation Mr Soren could be the 15th, the Chief Minister's wife was spotted at a meeting of party legislators in Ranchi Tuesday evening, leading to talk she might be installed in the top job should her husband be jailed.
The JMM has said it will back Ms Soren, but there are legal hurdles since she is not a member of the Assembly and there is no time for a bypoll.
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