'Missing' Jhakharnd CM Hemant Soren attends meet with MLAs, arrest speculations looms large

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who as per the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was "untraceable" for more than 30 hours, arrived at his official residence in Ranchi today. 

Soren met with legislators of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) at his official residence amid speculation that the Chief Minister could be arrested by the ED if he appears before them for questioning on January 31. 

His wife, Kalpana Soren, also attended the meeting, amid speculation that she might take over if her husband gets arrested.

All the MLAs from the JMM-led alliance were asked to stay put in Ranchi and attend the meeting on Tuesday to discuss the state's current political situation. The JMM, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand.

The meeting has been called to deliberate on a strategy over the current political scenario and the ED's proposed questioning of Soren in the land case on Wednesday, JMM general secretary and spokesperson Vinod Kumar Singh told news agency PTI.

Soren, who had left for Delhi from Ranchi on January 27 night, had sent an email to the agency in which he agreed to a fresh round of questioning by the ED investigators on January 31 at his Ranchi residence around 1 pm, as per ED sources.

The ED had questioned Soren at his official residence in Ranchi on January 20 in the case, and issued a tenth summons to him asking him to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31. So far, Soren has skipped ED summonses nine times.

JMM legislators had remained at Soren's official residence in Delhi till late night on Monday after an ED team visited there to question him in connection with a money laundering investigation into the land case.

Meanwhile, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been imposed within a radius of 100 metres of Soren's official residence, Raj Bhavan and the ED office in Ranchi.