Edited by Deepali Verma
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted a search across 10 locations in Ranchi and Rajasthan in a money laundering case linked to illegal mining in Jharkhand, sources said. Those searched include Abhishek Prasad, the press adviser of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The others under the radar of ED action also include Hazaribag deputy superintendent of police Rajendra Dubey and SahibGanj district collector Ram Nivas who’s home is in Rajasthan.
Another case of an alleged land scam, the ED on December 30 issued summons for the seventh time to Mr Soren seeking to record his statement. The ED in the summons warned the Jharkhand Chief Minister stating that it was his last opportunity to get his statement recorded.
“… We are presenting this last opportunity to record your statement under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002… it should fall within seven days of receipt of this notice/summons,” the ED remarked in the summons to Mr Soren.
Mr Soren considered these summons “illegal”, news agency ANI reported on January 2. A letter written by Soren to ED states that he has already given the details of his properties.
“Soren has written to the ED as a response to the summons issued to him, stating that the summons are illegal. He has accused ED of making the whole matter into a media trial. Further, he said that he had already given the details of the properties. He has claimed that the ED is trying to destabilise his government,” ANI reported quoting an unnamed source.
Mr Soren is also under investigation over allegations of money laundering in the illegal mining case in Sahibganj district. The Chief Minister, once in charge of the mines and geology department, allegedly violated election rules by giving himself a mining lease in 2021.
Mr Soren has firmly denied any wrongdoing and alleged that he is being made part of a larger conspiracy to “harass a tribal leader”.
The escalated ED searches are witnessed just months ahead of the national election. Mr Soren has firmly denied speculation about his wife Kalpana Soren being prepped to contest from the Gandey assembly constituency as a “complete imagination” of the BJP. The speculation sparked rapidly with the ED’s latest summons to Mr Soren, coupled with the resignation by the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad January 1.
The BJP is of the view that Mr Ahmad was made to quit so as to allow Kalpana Soren to contest from the Gandey seat in case of any eventuality in connection with the ED matter.
