Jharkhand

"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.

Following about seven hours of questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case related to a land scam, Soren submitted his resignation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan.

The ED had dispatched a team to Hemant Soren's Delhi residence on Monday after receiving information that the Jharkhand CM was in the capital. Reports suggest that Soren arrived in Delhi on January 26 for legal consultations.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who, according to the ED, declared him "untraceable", arrived in Ranchi today. On Monday, his house in Delhi was raided by the probe agency and he was not present, prompting the ED to declare him missing.

The ED had recorded Soren's statement for the first time on January 20 during a visit to his official residence in Ranchi. The statement, recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), spanned nearly seven hours.

Examining oral evidence, the court found that the wife voluntarily left the matrimonial house due to her reluctance to care for her elderly in-laws. The husband's suit for judicial separation aimed to keep his wife with him, highlighting her adamant stance on living separately without reasonable cause in her parental house.

In a sharp rebuke directed at the Centre over the summonses last December, Lalu Yadav emphasized the mounting pressure on investigative agencies and predicted a renewed focus on Bihar, Jharkhand, and Delhi following assembly elections in other states.

These girls hailed from various regions, spanning Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, as well as Sehore, Raisen, Chhindwara, and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. The FIR highlighted numerous irregularities in the illegally-operated children's home.

The searches are being carried out at over 10 locations, including Jharkhand CM's press advisor Abhishek Prasad's residence and the residence of Sahebganj Deputy Commissioner. Chief Minister Soren has skipped the Enforcement Directorate summons for seven times so far.

Soren's strategy has involved seeking legal recourse instead of complying with the ED's summons. He filed petitions before the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court, seeking protection against the agency's actions.