RANCHI: Hemant Soren has resigned as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. He submitted the resignation letter to the Governor after he was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the land scam case. Soren met the Governor along with ED officials. Meanwhile, ED may record the arrest of Soren tonight.

Champai Soren will replace Hemant as the new Chief Minister. Champai is currently the state transport minister. He is a seven-time MLA and he represents the Seraikella constituency in Jharkhand. Before joining the JMM, he was an independent MLA.

Although it was earlier hinted that Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren would become the chief minister, there was strong opposition against Kalpana within the party. Following this, the party proposed the name of Champai as the new Chief Minister.

The top officials of the state had reached the Chief Minister's residence while the interrogation was in progress. The state police chief and chief secretary reached the chief minister's residence. Three buses are camping in front of the Chief Minister's residence in Ranchi. Rumour has it that the buses were brought to take the MLAs if Hemant Soren is arrested. Meanwhile, a prohibitory order was also announced on the premises of the ED office.

Soren, who had been summoned 10 times earlier, chose today for questioning. Returning to Ranchi during ED proceedings in Delhi, his phone was off, and he was untraceable.

According to the ED, CM Soren was questioned as a part of the probe into the 'huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia'.

The probe pertains to huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by forging official records by showing 'fake sellers' and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores.

Case registered against ED for insulting community

Meanwhile, the Ranchi police registered a case against the ED officials under the SC/ST Act. The case was registered on Soren's complaint. In his complaint, Soren alleged that the ED officials tried to harass and malign him and his community by carrying out a lightning raid on the government residence in South Delhi on January 29. He also said that the BMW car and Rs 30 lakhs seized from there were not his.