Opposition leader in India detained in corruption case

India’s agency for catching people who do bad things with money has taken a top leader from the other political party into custody. This happened just a few hours after he quit his job as the main leader of Jharkhand state.

Hemant Soren from the JMM party is being accused of doing something wrong for money. He says the accusations are not true.

He was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday evening after being questioned for seven hours.

His political party has chosen Champai Soren, who is currently the transport minister, to be the next leader of the eastern state.

Mr Soren is fighting against his arrest in India’s highest court, saying it is based on politics. The issue will be discussed on Friday.

He is the newest of many opposition leaders being investigated by India’s main agencies.

An Indian person who fights against corruption is trying to prove his innocence.
The government in India removed a very outspoken member of parliament amid allegations of taking bribes.

The problem with Mr. Soren is about a piece of land he is said to own in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.

The ED says he bought the property using money from illegal activities, like selling land that belonged to the Indian army.

Mr Soren says he didn’t do it and says the property was wrongly said to belong to him.

The ED officials asked Mr Soren to come for questioning several times but he didn’t go.

On Monday, officials went to Mr. Soren’s house in Delhi but he was not there. The agency took 3. 6 million rupees ($43,381; £34,202) and a car from the house.

The next day, Mr. Soren appeared in Ranchi and said he would give his statement to the agency on Wednesday.

A rule was made that people are not allowed to be out around the chief minister’s house and the ED office in Ranchi after a certain time.

A few hours later, Mr. Soren quit his job. Then his loyal supporter Champai Soren was chosen as the next leader. Hemant Soren got arrested last night.

The JMM said the investigation against Mr Soren was unfair and driven by politics, like a “witch-hunt”.

The party said that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP is using central agencies to go after opposition leaders before the general elections. The BJP says it did not interfere in politics.

India’s main opposition party, Congress, also criticized Mr. Soren’s arrest, saying it is a “threat to federalism”. JMM is a group of opposition parties in India that wants to challenge the ruling BJP-led alliance in the elections.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP is very corrupt and is trying to ruin democracy.

Many other top government officials and political leaders are being accused of stealing money or being dishonest.

In November, the ED asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear in connection with a case about a liquor policy that was no longer in effect in the state. His friends from the party, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, have already been taken into custody in the matter.

The police are looking into claims that the leaders of three southern states – Telangana, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh – are involved in illegal money activities. All the leaders said they did not do the things they were accused of.