Marandi wants Soren’s ‘militant links’ probed

NEW DELHI Jharkhand chief minister Shibu ‘Controversy’ Soren is facing fresh trouble, with one of his main detractors alleging he has links with the leader of an outlawed extremist outfit.

Former chief minister Babulal Marandi is demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter in the wake of claims by a hardcore Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT) member that Soren was in touch with his leader.

Lorence Mundari alias Carlos, who was caught by the police recently, claimed before the media that the chief minister and Dinesh Gope, chief of his outfit, were in regular contact. JLT is a splinter group of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in the state.

The chief minister’s office, however, dismissed the allegations. Soren’s press advisor Shafique Ansari said “it’s an attempt to denigrate the image of Guruji”, the name by which the chief minister is popularly known.