ED asks Jharkhand CM to record statement in PMLA case again this week

Official sources said on Monday that the Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and asked him to record his statement again between January 27 and 31 in the money laundering case.

The central agency recorded his statement for the first time in the case on January 20 after investigators visited him at his official residence in Ranchi.

They recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the nearly seven hours he spent at his house.

Sources said Soren has been asked to join the investigation again between January 27 and 31 and an Enforcement Directorate team will visit his residence like last time.

He said, the recording of the statement was not completed that day (January 20) and hence, the Chief Minister has been asked to join the investigation again.

The agency is understood to have asked around 25-30 questions to Soren during his questioning last week in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal land deals.

After the ED officials left, the Chief Minister had said that a conspiracy had been hatched against him.

Soren, 48, who is also the working president of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), had earlier ignored seven ED summons, and had given his consent for questioning when the eighth summons was sent.

According to the central probe agency, the investigation pertains to “a large racket of illegal change of land ownership by the mafia” in Jharkhand.

The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011 batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, who served as director of the state social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)