Jharkhand

Soren said that "it seems BJP leaders and their puppets have drafted the report which is in a sealed cover". He said that there is no communication to him officially. Sources, however, said that BJP is seeming confident about their petition against him. The Election Commission has sent a letter to the Governor on the issue of the Assembly membership of Soren as former Chief Minister Raghubar Das and the BJP sought his disqualification.

"They checked into a room and soon came out and entered the hotel bar. Soon a fourth person joined them and after some interaction that fourth person left. But soon he returned with a bag which he handed over to the three MLAs. We think that the bag contained the cash that was recovered from the boot of the car the three MLAs were travelling in," a CID source said.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Jharkhand Congress in-charge and party's general secretary Avinash Pandey said that the top leadership of the party has taken this decision in view of the allegations against the three MLAs.

According to sources, the ED may record his statements at Ranchi-based office. Pankaj Mishra, another close aide of Soren was sent to the ED custody till August 1. The ED had even recently seized one inland vessel namely M.V. Infralink-III which was allegedly being used Mishra. The ED had on last Tuesday conducted searches in this connection. The estimated cost of the vessel is around Rs 30 crore.

Addressing a press conference, Jharkhand Congress in-charge and party's general secretary Avinash Pandey said that the top leadership of the party has taken this decision in view of the allegations against the three MLAs. Meanwhile, Congress' Bermo region MLA Anoop Singh lodged an FIR against these three MLAs at Argora police station in Ranchi on Sunday morning, accusing them of conspiracy to topple the state government.

The Congress has sought a report from its state unit. "The game plan of 'Hum Do' in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo," tweeted Jairam Ramesh. On Saturday, three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were detained in West Bengal's Howrah district by the police after cash worth more than Rs 48 lakh was seized from a vehicle in which all of them were travelling.

The vehicle belonged to one of the three Congress legislators who was arrested on Saturday evening along with the other two party MLAs. Howrah Rural Police sources said that all the three Congress MLAs claimed that they represent tribal-dominated constituencies in Jharkhand, especially Khijri and Kolebira.

The announcement came close on the heels of Shiv Sena declaring support for Murmu. The JMM issued a statement signed by its founder Shibu Soren, which said that after Independence, this is the first time that a tribal woman is contesting for the top Constitutional post and all the MPs and MLAs of the party will vote for Murmu.