Ranchi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who has been asked by the probe agency to appear before it between January 16-20 in connection with illegal mining case.
Till now, the ED, which has sent an eighth summon to Soren, asked him to respond for failing to appear before it when earlier summons were issued. In December, ED issued summons to Soren for questioning in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The Jharkhand Chief Minister was asked to appear at the federal agency's office for his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Earlier, ED alleged that a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by mafia was going on in Jharkhand".
Before sending notice to the CM on Saturday, the ED earlier conducted a search at Soren's media advisor Abhishek Prasad's residence. According to the agency sources, searches were carried out at 12 locations, including the residences of Abhishek Prasad and the Deputy Commissioner of Sahebganj.
As many as 14 people were arrested from Jharkhand in the case. The prominent among them is a 2011-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Chhavi Ranjan, who had earlier served as the director of the state social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.
The BJP has made ED summons an issue with party MP Nishikant Dubey asking him to resign. "The Chief Minister of Jharkhand and the officials, who are working on his instructions are least bothered about the law. I am an MP and the chairman of the Road Safety Committee, according to the gazette of the Government of India. This right has been given to me by the people of Godda. Despite my presence at Tower Chowk, on January 6, the Deoghar police forcefully kept the keys of the motorcycles of hundreds of children. When I protested, a case was registered. Such an action out of vendetta is not going to work in a democracy. The struggle will continue until the Hemant government is removed," Dubey wrote on X.
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