ED issues fresh summons to Soren, asks him to appear before it on Nov 17

• The Jharkhand CM was initially summoned by the central agency on November 3 but he did not depose citing official engagements.
• Enforcement Directorate has arrested Soren’s political aide Pankaj Mishra and two others
• Hemant Soren had earlier dared the federal agency to arrest him saying he is ‘neither afraid of it nor worried’

In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to appear before it in Ranchi on November 17 for questioning in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, official sources told PTI.

The Jharkhand CM was initially summoned by the central agency on November 3 but he did not depose citing official engagements. He had then sought a three-week deferment of the summons. The ED will question Soren and record of his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED has arrested Soren’s political aide Pankaj Mishra and two others —local muscleman Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash— in this case and has claimed to have “identified” proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining in the state to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore till now.

Notably, the top court on Monday set aside Jharkhand High Court’s orders holding two PILs seeking a probe against Soren as maintainable and deciding to proceed with it. A bench of CJI U U Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the petitioner, Shiv Shankar Sharma, had not approached HC with clean hands, as he had failed to disclose that a “similar petition” was filed before HC in 2013, which was dismissed by both the HC as well as by SC.

Earlier, the CM had dared the agency to arrest him. He had said: The ED has summoned me following a conspiracy. Come and arrest me if I have committed a crime instead of sending summonses for questioning. I am neither afraid nor worried. Rather I am emerging stronger. If people of Jharkhand wish, opponents will not find a place to hide.”

The ED probe began after it raided Mishra and his alleged associates on July 8, covering 19 locations in the state.

“The PMLA investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys a political clout, being the representative of the chief minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahibganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahibganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices. He exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahibganj,” the ED had alleged after filing a charge sheet in the case before a special court in Ranchi.