Suspense mounted on Tuesday night as a Jharkhand police team arrived in Delhi to arrest Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren in connection with a 30-year-old case even as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader reportedly went into hiding.
A two-member police team led by Ranchi Superintendent of Police Niraj Sinha arrived in the national capital to execute a non-bailable warrant in connection with the 1975 Chirrudih massacre, a top police official said in Delhi.
Soren is a member of the Lok Sabha from Dumka in Jharkhand and hence, the team may secure permission from the Speaker for the arrest since the House is in session.
The District Judicial Magistrate of Jamtara on Saturday issued the warrant against Soren and nine others in connection with the killing of 11 people in Chirrudih.
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Apparently apprehending arrest, Soren had on Monday applied for leave to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee citing personal reasons.
The whereabouts of Soren remain unknown. Aides at his official residence pleaded ignorance about his whereabouts. A squad of Delhi police officials led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police has been deployed outside Soren's residence.
Arjun Munda asserted that his state's officials are capable of finding him.
Meanwhile, Soren, who on Monday filed a writ petition in the Jharkhand high court challenging entire proceedings in the Chirrudih massacre case, on Tuesday filed a supplementary affidavit.
R S Majumdar and Inderjeet Sinha, counsel of the JMM chief, told reporters in Ranchi that an 'important document' could not be given on Monday as the certified copy was received on Tuesday afternoon.
Soren is a resident of Nemra villager under Gola police station in Hazaribagh district. The 1975 incident occurred at Chirrudih under Narayanpur police station in the erstwhile Bihar, which is now in Jharkhand's Jamatara district.