The Enforcement Directorate on Monday seized a BMW car belonging to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and some documents from his Delhi residence. Meanwhile, Soren continues to remain untraceable. His chartered plane was seen parked at the Delhi airport while his party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, has asked the ED to interrogate him at his Ranchi residence on 31 January.
Soren is wanted by the ED in a money laundering case. He was questioned for many hours by the financial probe agency a few days ago. It’s expected that the ED will formally arrest him after the next round of grilling.
Quoting official sources, news agency PTI reported that Soren was ‘missing’ and could not be contacted by the federal agency but a family member alleged that a ‘false’ narrative was being set to ‘delegitimise’ the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader’s position.
There are reports that a large number of Delhi Police personnel was also sent to the 5/1 Shanti Niketan building in South Delhi around 9 am but Soren was apparently missing.
Soren is reportedly considering moving the Supreme Court on Tuesday to challenge the ED summons.
The ED is investigating a Rs. 600 crore scam involving government land in Jharkhand whose ownership was allegedly changed before they were sold to private builders. The agency has already arrested 14 people in connection with this scam. Among those arrested is also one IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan. An 2011-batch IAS officer, Ranjan was the director of the state Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.