New Delhi: A special court in Ranchi on Wednesday (February 7) extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s custody of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren by five days, news reports have said.The ED, a Union government financial crimes agency, is investigating Soren’s role in an alleged land grab case. It has accused him of illegally acquiring 8.5 acres of land in Ranchi and that it was obtained by a “very large” land-grabbing “syndicate”.According to the Indian Express, the ED said in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on Wednesday that it found “incriminating information” in Soren’s WhatsApp conversations with a close aide.“The WhatsApp chat not only includes exchange of confidential information regarding several properties but other incriminating information relating to transfer posting, sharing of government records, etc,” out of which a huge amount of money appears to have been generated and transacted,” the ED’s remand note said according to the Express.The agency sought to keep Soren in custody for seven more days, saying it needed to confront him with certain witnesses and accused, the Express‘s report said.But special court judge Dinesh Rai gave the ED only five days’ custody, The Hindu reported.Advocate general Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared for Soren, was quoted as saying by PTI that Soren’s team objected to the ED’s request for seven days’ custody as “he [Soren] has already been interrogated for eight hours on January 20 and another eight hours on January 31”.“So, there is no need for any further remand,” he said.PTI also cited Ranjan as claiming that Soren has been interrogated for 120 hours in the last five days, was held in a basement room with no sunlight and was monitored by armed guards as he slept.Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31.He subsequently submitted his resignation to Jharkhand’s governor, C.P. Radhakrishnan.Champai Soren, a senior leader in Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party, was later sworn in as chief minister and went on to win a floor test in the state’s legislature.