RANCHI, Dec 11: According to official sources, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren received a new summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, demanding to be questioned in connection with a money-laundering case involving a purported land scam. According to the sources on Monday, Soren, 48, has been asked to appear in person at the federal agency’s regional office in the Hinoo area of this city and have his statement recorded in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The sources stated that the chief minister is being summoned on December 12.This is Soren’s sixth notice, but he has never appeared in court because he filed a petition with the Supreme Court and then the Jharkhand High Court, claiming that the summons is “unwarranted” and asking for protection from the ED action. His petition was denied by both courts. The leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had argued in the high court that the summons had been sent to him with “malice” and that the only reason they had been made was to incite political unrest and uncertainty in the state. He received the ED’s first summons for August 14.A “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by mafia was going on in Jharkhand,” according to the ED, which is the subject of the investigation. In this case, the agency has detained fourteen individuals, among them Chhavi Ranjan, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 2011 batch who previously held positions as deputy commissioner of Ranchi and director of the state’s social welfare department. In November of last year, Soren was questioned by the ED regarding an additional money-laundering case that involved alleged illegal mining in the state.
