• Hemant Soren arrested by central probe team in money laundering case after resigning as Chief Minister, reports NDTV
• Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan accepts Hemant Soren's resignation as CM: Raj Bhavan, reports PTI
  
• Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren taken to ED office in Ranchi: Official sources
  

Hemant Soren on Wednesday resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister after more than seven hours of questioning by the ED in a money laundering case, and senior JMM leader Champai Soren was named as his successor.

Meanwhile, JMM's Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji claimed that the 48-year-old Hemant Soren was in the "custody" of the Enforcement Directorate.

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

"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.

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.

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.

Suspense over whereabouts

Officers of the Enforcement Directorate reached the CM's residence here around 1.20 pm to record his statement in the alleged money laundering case linked to the alleged land scam.

Amid the suspense over his whereabouts and intense political drama, Soren reached his official residence here on Tuesday and chaired a meeting of his alliance MLAs.

Prohibitory orders were clamped in key areas of Ranchi and a three-member team was formed to oversee the law and order situation in the Jharkhand capital amid Soren’s questioning by the ED, officials said on Wednesday.

Ban orders extended

According to an official release, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, which was earlier made effective from 9 am to 10pm on Wednesday, was extended till further notice within a radius of 100 metres at key locations, including the CM House, Raj Bhavan and the ED office at Doranda.

As part of the restrictions, demonstrations, rallies and meetings cannot be held in and around these areas.

The three-member special team is led by finance secretary Prashant Kumar and has mines director Arva Rajkamal and special branch IG Prabhat Kumar as members.

Protests across Jharkhand

Following protests that took place across the state on January 20 during Soren’s questioning by ED sleuths at his residence here, the federal agency wrote to the department of home, prison and disaster management to ensure law and order during the second round of quizzing on Wednesday, the release said.

As part of the security measures, barricades were put up outside the ED office and the chief minister’s residence, and more than 1,000 security personnel had been deployed at strategic locations, a senior police officer said.