A section of a tribal organisation has called day long bandh in Jharkhand on Thursday after the ED arrested former chief minister Hemant Soren in an alleged money laundering case involving illegal land dealings.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) general secretary Vinod Kumar Pandey clarified that his “party is not supporting the bandh”.
Police spokesperson AV Homkar said that “there is no information of any untoward incident from any part of the state so far”, though possibilities of disturbances cannot be ruled out.
“In rural areas, many schools have been stayed closed in the wake of the bandh,” a police official said.
“After the arrest of former CM Hemant Soren, chief secretary L Khiangte will hold a review meeting regarding the law and order of the state. The meeting will be held today at 11 am through video conferencing. In the meeting, the DGP, ADG Operations, all police commissioners, IG Special Branch, IG Operations, Zonal IG, Range DIG, DC and SP of all the districts will be present,” an official at the state chief secretary’s office said.
An officer at the state police headquarters said that a high alert has been issued across Jharkhand and all SPs have been instructed to exercise special vigilance in their respective districts. Additional police forces have been deployed in those districts where JMM workers are expected to protest. If necessary, instructions have also been given to implement Section 144.
“Security has also been beefed up as ED is expected to produce Soren before the PMLA court. There is a hearing in the high court on the matter and a lot of political activities are going on in Raj Bhawan, Circuit House and Guest House,” a police official said.
