Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 14 in connection with the land scam case. Soren shot off a letter to the ED, threatening to initiate legal action if the summons issued to him in the case were not withdrawn “forthwith”. In September, Soren approached the Supreme Court challenging the summons by the ED, but the SC refused to entertain Soren’s petition. Since August, Soren has skipped five ED summons.
Massive raids in a year
In the past year, ED has carried out many raids across Jharkhand. Many ministers, IAS officers, business people have been interrogated.
On August 23, ED searched 32 locations across the state in connection with the liquor scam. These included the residence of state finance minister Rameshwar Oraon’s son. On May 6, 2022, the ED carried out searches at 25 locations of IAS officer and then mines secretary Pooja Singhal, and her close aide, in connection with the Jharkhand land scam and corruption cases. After this incident, Virendra Ram, the former chief engineer of the Rural Development Department, and CM Soren’s representative Pankaj Mishra were arrested in the illegal mining case. Soren was also questioned.
According to a report, ED has raided 101 locations between May 6, 2022 and May 5, 2023. Assets worth Rs 157 crore, including cash, had been seized. Thirty-six influential people, including the CM had been questioned—15 are behind bars. According to media reports, in the last 10 years, ED had attached assets worth Rs 1,900 crore in Jharkhand.
ED raids on account of political pressure?
Seventy per cent of these actions have taken place in the last eight years since the NDA has come to power. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and RJD have formed a coalition government in Jharkhand. The BJP is in the opposition. The Congress and JMM have been of the opinion that the ED raids and summons are a result of the pressure put on the agency by the BJP. The JMM faction believes that the investigating agencies are working at the behest of the central government. The coalition government in the state feels that this is being done to destabilise the government. Senior journalist Rajendra Tiwari, too, feels the act is politically motivated.
Another senior journalist based in Jharkhand feels that in the past one year, ED raids have increased significantly in the state. After the formation of Jharkhand in 2000, the ED first took action against former chief minister Madhu Koda. During those days, ED did not have an office in Jharkhand. It was located in Bihar. Two former Jharkhand ministers Anosh Ekka and Harinarayan Singh had been convicted by the ED, while many are under trial.
(Translated by Kaveri Mishra)
