The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has issued a summons to State Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case, sources in the agency said on Saturday. ED has asked the CM Soren to appear at its regional office at Hinoo on August 24.

Earlier on August 14, Soren was summoned by central probe agency but he failed to appear. The CM had challenged the legality of the summons and did not turn up saying he was seeking legal opinion on this matter. He, in a letter to the ED, asked to withdraw the summons.

Soren did not join the central agency probe citing he was busy with the preparation of the Independence Day celebration in the state. "Your choice of the date of 14th August does not come as a surprise to the undersigned [Hemant Soren]. You and your political masters are fully aware that being the Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand, the undersigned is scheduled to hoist the national flag on the occasion of the 77th independence day of the Republic of India on 15th August 2023," Soren wrote in his letter.

Preparations for the Independence Day function start from a week before and 14th August is an important day for the same when many meetings are pre-scheduled. The caption summons requiring the undersigned to appear before you on 14 August 2023, is deliberate and part of the design to besmirch the reputation not only of the undersigned but also the democratically elected government of the state of Jharkhand and the people of the state of Jharkhand," the chief minister said.



He further stated that the central agencies were targeting him because he is not aligning with the central government.

However, the ED was apparently not convinced with Soren’s stand and issued a second summons today.

Earlier on November 17 last year, the ED had questioned Soren for about 10 hours in an illegal mining case.

Last year, the Chief Minister was questioned in the illegal mining and money laundering case of Rs 1000 crore in Sahibganj. CM Hemant Soren appeared before the ED for the first time on 17 November 2022, where he was questioned by the ED for about 10 hours. ED had asked Chief Minister Hemant Soren many questions related to stone mining. After this, the CM also challenged the ED by writing an open letter.

The ED had sent summons to CM Soren on August 8 asking him to appear. The notice was sent to him on the basis of case number 25/23.

On July 8, 2022, during the raid at the house of Chief Minister's MLA representative Pankaj Mishra, who was arrested on July 19, 2022, the ED was reported to have found a check book linked to CM Hemant Soren's bank account. The ED has many more such pieces of evidence regarding which the Chief Minister has to be questioned.

The ED has mentioned in the charge sheet filed in the PMLA court that the Chief Minister's signature was also on the 2 blank cheques. Even after the arrest of Prem Prakash, there have been many revelations. Now the name of CM and his family is also coming up in the land scam case.