ED summons Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren In Illegal Mining Case

Soren has been summoned months after the Election Commission of India (EC) in August sent a report to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bias ostensibly recommending his disqualification as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining lease.

| Updated: 02 November, 2022 1:07 pm IST

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for questioning  in connection with its money laundering probe into the alleged  Sahebganj illegal mining tender scam case.

According to senior ED officials, the financial probe agency has summoned Soren to appear before it on Thursday at its Ranchi office.

An ED source said that the agency would question the Chief Minister about the illegal mining tender case and about some banking documents that it recovered during searches from the premises of his aide Pankaj Mishra.

The source said that the agency had recovered several banking transaction details, passbooks and cheques with mention of Soren and others from the premises of  Mishra.

The ED had earlier questioned several people in connection with the case. Mishra, who is the CM’s MLA representative in the Barhait Assembly constituency was arrested in July this year following over eight hours of questioning.

The ED had also searched the premises of Prem Prakash, an accused in the illegal tender scam case.

The ED also during questioning of Mishra, Prakash and another person Ravi Kejriwal had got the links of Soren.

The ED questioned Abhishek Prasad aka Pintu, press advisor to Soren in connection with the case on multiple occasions.

Earlier, the ED said in a statement that they had seized an inland vessel as part of the ongoing investigation, which was allegedly being operated without a permit from Sukargarh Ghat in Sahebganj.

The ED said Rajesh Yadav alias Dahu Yadav operated it in “collusion” with Mishra and others, for transporting mined stone chips or stone boulders. The ED put the estimated cost of the vessel at Rs 30 crore, taking the total proceeds of this alleged scam past the Rs 100 crore mark.

Soren has been summoned months after the Election Commission of India (EC) in August sent a report to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bias ostensibly recommending his disqualification as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining lease.

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