A fog of uncertainty looms over the Rs. 36 lakh cash confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the New Delhi property of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The perplexity deepens as contradictory narratives surface from Soren's petition lodged before the Jharkhand High Court and his FIR filed against ED officials, presenting two starkly different accounts of the incident.
Amidst the ED's search operation on January 29th, which also yielded a blue BMW, Soren found himself embroiled in a legal mire.
He was subsequently arrested on January 31st in Ranchi after extensive questioning for nearly 7 hours.
In the meantime, before his arrest, Soren filed an FIR against ED officials under sections of the IPC and SC, ST Prevention of Atrocities Act for maligning his image as well as that of the tribal community.
He vehemently denied ownership of the seized BMW and any connection to the recovered cash, dismissing it as an intentional smear campaign.
“I have come to learn from media reports in the electronic media on January 30, 2024, that the above named persons have leaked selective misinformation that a blue BMW car seized from the said premises belongs to me huge sums of illicit cash belonging to me was found at the said premises. I am not the owner of the car of BMW which the above-named persons claim to have seized. I do not own any illicit cash. The above-named persons and unknown others who are not members of any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe have done the aforesaid acts intentionally to humiliate me in public,” Soren claimed in the FIR.
However, in a petition contesting his arrest, Soren altered his stance, acknowledging ownership of the cash. He argued that the money recovered from his Delhi residence was intended for his ailing parents' medical expenses, justifying the need for ready cash.
During the questioning on January 31st, Soren admitted before the ED—assuming but not admitting— that the cash allegedly recovered from the said premises belonged to him. But he claimed that, given the time, he could account for each and every penny.
Sources aware of the ongoing money laundering probe against Soren claimed that in the FIR he has disowned the said amount in carefully selected words, whereas in the petition he has categorically admitted that it belonged to him and the same was not tainted.
Adding to his woes, the BMW seized during the operation is poised to exacerbate his legal entanglement. Investigations suggest that the vehicle may be a 'benami' property belonging to Soren, complicating matters further.
Registered under Kolkata-based Bhagwan Das Holding Pvt Limited, the car's owner, Premnath Agrawal, purchased it on January 15th, 2021, using an address linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu.
The former Jharkhand Chief now finds himself entangled in a web of allegations and counterclaims, casting a possible shadow over his political future.
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