ED serves seventh summon to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in PMLA case

ED has asked Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren to select and inform the agency within two days a place of his choice to get his statement recorded

The directorate of enforcement (ED) has served the seventh summon to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren for questioning in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe related to alleged land scam in the state capital and asked the latter to select and inform the agency within two days a place of his choice to get his statement recorded under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), people aware of the development said on Saturday.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. (Fille)

“The communication was sent on Friday. By Sunday he is expected to inform the agency about a place which is appropriate for both sides to get his statement recorded. The statement has to be recorded in seven days from the day the summon has been issued,” an official said.

The federal agency in its previous summons used to call the chief minister for questioning at its zonal office in Ranchi.

However, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader refused to appear before the agency on all six previous occasions, reportedly citing different reasons including lack of clarity in the summon, describing the summon politically motivated, illegal and questioned it in the Jharkhand high court that dismissed his petition.

People familiar with the matter in the agency said the fresh summon has given details of the case in which he is expected to get his statement recorded.

“It has been underlined in the summon that if he does not respond to the summon as expected, it will be considered that he is deliberately not honouring the ED summon,” an official said.