Jharkhand cops detained for ‘snooping’ on ex-CM Champai Soren
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 28
In Bollywood-style action late on Tuesday, the Delhi Police swooped on a high-end city hotel, picking up two Jharkhand policemen for allegedly snooping on former Chief Minister Champai Soren, who has announced plans to ditch the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the BJP.
The move followed an FIR by tribal stalwart Champai, who has accused the ruling JMM-Congress dispensation in Jharkhand of spying on him.
Delhi cops confirmed picking up two Sub-Inspectors of the Jharkhand Police special branch and questioning their motives behind hiring a hotel room on the same floor as Champai. The ex-CM has alleged that he was being tracked for five months.
Champai had taken over as the CM in January this year, when incumbent Hemant Soren was jailed on corruption charges. The two fell out after Champai was made to resign as the CM on July 3 to make way for Hemant when he returned on bail.
“This is the rarest of rare cases in the history of independent India, where a sitting CM is spying on his own Cabinet colleague. Champai Soren is still Jharkhand minister. He is yet to join the BJP.
Every time he comes to Delhi, he is tracked. We suspect his phones are also being tapped,” Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said today.
Sarma aided Champai’s decision to switch over to the BJP and was the first to announce it on August 30.
The Assam CM, while disclosing that Champai had registered an FIR at Delhi’s Chanakyapuri police station, alleged that the detained cops had revealed trailing the ex-CM “at the behest of a leader holding constitutional post in Jharkhand”.
“We will not name this leader,” Sarma said, demanding a thorough investigation. That the BJP will make alleged surveillance of Champai its campaign plank on Jharkhand poll eve was clear when Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, party’s state election incharge, today slammed the Jharkhand CM for spying on his own minister.
“Hemant Soren ji, it is very surprising to know that you are getting your minister spied upon. What else can a scared Chief Minister do? JMM MLAs and ministers should be cautious of their surroundings. Who knows their own government might be spying on them,” Chouhan said.
Earlier today, Sarma alleged that the JMM-led state government was spending generously to keep tabs on Champai. “The Jharkhand cops now being probed had rented a room on the same floor at Taj Hotel as the ex-CM. They even had a woman visitor. It appears there were plans to honey trap the former CM,” Sarma alleged. Champai claimed that the latest spell of alleged spying began when he left Ranchi and arrived in Delhi on August 26.
Resigns from JMM, Assembly
Champai Soren on Wednesday resigned from the primary membership of the JMM. He also resigned as MLA of the Assembly. In a letter to JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, Champai said that he had been forced to quit as he was aggrieved with the working style and policies of the current leadership.
