Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday skipped the second Enforcement Directorate (ED) summon for questioning in connection with an ongoing money laundering case related to fraudulent sale of land parcels in the state capital. Soren was to reach the ED office at Hinoo at 11 am, but he failed to appear at the same time it came to fore that he has moved Supreme Court against the Central probe agency summons.
According to the summons, he had to reach the ED office at 11 am, but he directly reached the secretariat located in Dhurwa from his residence at Kanke Road. Earlier, a letter was sent to the Enforcement Directorate on behalf of the CMO. It is not clear what is written in the letter, but sources said that he has filed a special petition in the Supreme Court against the summons of ED.
Amidst all speculations, security personnel were deployed outside the ED office. CRPF and Jharkhand Police personnel were deployed here. Airport Road was also converted into a police cantonment.
On August 8, the ED had summoned Soren for questioning on August 14 at its zonal office in Ranchi and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). However, he skipped the summons.
Describing it as “politically motivated”, Soren had questioned the summons, and asked the agency to withdraw or he will be forced to take legal recourse.
CM Hemant Soren had sent a letter to the ED regarding his appearance on August 14. In this letter, he termed the notice sent by ED as illegal and said that he would take any further step only after taking legal advice. After receiving the letter sent by the CM, ED issued a second summon and asked to reach the ED office on August 24.
ED replied to the letter sent by CM Hemant Soren to ED. The ED has denied that the agency is summoning him for political reasons. ED has told that he has been summoned only after the facts came during the investigation of the land scam. At the same time, the CM had said in his letter that he had given information about his and his family's property to the ED on November 30, 2022. ED has said that this detail is available with it but in a recent investigation ED has got information about many benami properties of the Soren family. He has been summoned in this regard only.
The ED has been probing two major cases of money laundering in Jharkhand. The first case is related to illegal mining in Sahibganj. The CM was questioned in connection with the mining case on November 17 last year.
The second case is related to an alleged land scam in the state capital. 13 people, including IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan and two businessmen, Amit Agarwal of Kolkata and Bishnu Agarwal, who owns shopping malls in Ranchi, have already been arrested in connection with the alleged land scam.
