The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday night arrested Hemant Soren after questioning him for seven hours at his home in an alleged land fraud case and after he had resigned as Jharkhand chief minister.

The ruling JMM-led coalition unanimously elected transport minister and veteran leader Champai Soren as the JMM legislative party leader.

Before his arrest, Hemant tendered his resignation as chief minister to governor C.P. Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan and was then taken to the ED office in Ranchi. Sources quoted by news agency PTI claimed that Hemant, 48, was "evasive" in his replies during the questioning and hence was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED is expected to produce Hemant before a special PMLA court in Ranchi and the agency will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, the sources said. The sources said the agency put across 15 questions to Hemant during the second round of questioning in the case. He was first quizzed on January 20.

The JMM leader was shown the typed statements he recorded with the agency. Before taking him into custody, his signatures were sought on these documents. It was, however, not clear if he signed them.

The allegations of money laundering against the JMM leader pertain to the alleged illegal possession of certain immovable assets apart from his purported links with members of the "land mafia".

“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.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said "forcing" Hemant to resign as chief minister after sending the ED after him was "a blow to federalism".

Earlier this week, Hemant had arrived in Delhi on a chartered flight but drove back to Ranchi.

A senior JMM leader said that the ruling JMM-Congress coalition MLAs, who were camping since afternoon at the chief minister’s residence while the ED grilled him in a closed room, met around 8pm and decided that Champai would take over in view of Hemant’s imminent arrest.

An appointment was sought from the governor around 8.30pm and all the ruling coalition MLAs reached the Raj Bhavan.

Though Radhakrishnan was informed about Champai being elected as JMM legislative party leader, the governor is yet to give time to him to stake claim to form the government.

Earlier on Wednesday, JMM and Congress legislators had gathered at the chief minister’s residence and elected Champai as the leader of the JMM legislative party. JMM spokesperson Vinod Pandey said a general consensus had been reached on Champai. In the evening, the ruling coalition MLAs left for the Raj Bhavan in two buses.

There had earlier been speculation that Hemant’s wife Kalpana’s name could be proposed as the new chief minister.

Jharkhand Cabinet Minister Champai Soren (C) with the state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam and others comes out from Raj Bhavan, in Ranchi, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. The ruling alliance proposed senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Champai Soren’s name as the new chief minister. PTI picture

Champai, who had played a crucial role in the movement for the creation of a separate state of Jharkhand, has been a legislator from the Seraikela Assembly constituency for more than three decades since 1991 and is known to be a loyalist of JMM chief Shibu Soren.

Born in November 1956 at Jilinggora village in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai is a matriculate and father of seven children. He is the son of a farmer and is not related to the Hemant Soren family.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the JMM has 30 MLAs, Congress 17 and the RJD one, while one CPI-ML MLA is also supporting the government. The Opposition BJP has 26 MLAs and its allies AJSU and NCP have two and one MLA, respectively.