Champai Soren slaps 'spying charges' on JMM-Cong govt, lodges FIR
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 28
In a dramatic turn of events on the eve of Jharkhand Assembly elections, former chief minister and tribal stalwart Champai Soren has slapped ‘spying charges’ on Chief Minister Hemant Soren who leads the JMM-Congress alliance government in the state.
श्री चंपाई सोरेन जी झारखंड मुक्ति मोर्चा के वरिष्ठतम नेता हैं, वे झामुमो के संस्थापक सदस्य भी हैं। लेकिन मुख्यमंत्री हेमंत सोरेन जी उन्हें अपमानित करने में कोई कोर कसर नहीं छोड़ रहे हैं, अपनी ही पार्टी के इतने बड़े नेता को साजिश के तहत मुख्यमंत्री पद से हटाना और सत्ता के लालच में…
— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) August 28, 2024
The FIR has been lodged in Delhi's Chanakyapuri police station and two cops of Jharkhand special branch, allegedly to have been following Champai Soren for the past five months, have been handed over for questioning.
Sharing the details of what he described as the “biggest case of political surveillance in independent India”, BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said, “Never in the history of independent India had a sitting chief minister (Hemant Soren) ordered surveillance of his own cabinet colleague. You had heard stories that the late Assam CM ordered my surveillance but there was no evidence at the time.
“In Champai Soren's case, two cops of Jharkhand special branch were caught trailing the ex-CM whenever he came to Delhi. These two cops were handed over to Delhi police yesterday. They had booked a room in Taj Hotel in the national capital on the same floor as Champai Soren was since August 26,” said Sarma, who engineered Champai Soren's switch over to the BJP.
Champai will join the BJP on August 30 and till he resigns from JMM; he would remain Jharkhand water minister.
Sarma said the Jharkhand cops had revealed in interrogations that they had been asked by the state's special branch chief to track Champai Soren's movements.
“This spying has been going on for five months and a lot of money is being spent on it. Now Champai Soren has lodged an FIR in Delhi and the probe is underway. We have the details of the cops and their photos,” Sarma said, demanding a thorough investigation into the issue.
Jharkhand BJP is also expected to meet the state governor to demand an investigation into the matter, with Sarma saying Champai's phones could also have been tapped and there's evidence of attempts to even honey trap him.
“A woman had visited these two cops in the Taj Hotel and there may have been a plot to trap Champai Soren,” alleged Sarma accusing the JMM-Congress of shredding the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to privacy.
“The Congress and JMM say they are guardians of the Constitution. Nothing can be farther from the truth,” said Sarma who had earlier last week accompanied Champai to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah paving the way for his BJP entry.
Champai Soren had visited Delhi a few days ago and stayed at Hotel Taj where Sarma alleged the two spies were detected tracking and photographing him and were later handed over to Delhi police.
