ED issues fresh summons to Jharkhand CM Soren for questioning in money laundering case

RANCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh communication to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, asking him to again join the investigation in a money laundering case next week, official sources said on Saturday.

Soren has been asked to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31, they said.

The central agency had earlier asked the Jharkhand chief minister to join the probe on any date between January 27 and 31 but since there was no official response, it has issued a fresh letter-cum-summons to the 48-year-old politician, who is also the executive president of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

The ED recorded Soren's statement for the first time in the case on January 20 after its investigators went to his official residence in Ranchi. The statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the nearly seven hours the investigators spent at his home.

It has been learnt that the fresh summons was issued as the questioning had not completed that day.

The investigation pertains to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the agency.

The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state's Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.