ED summons Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for questioning on August 14

ED is investigating several cases in Jharkhand under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The first one involved Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was arrested in a case of money laundering involving the alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds during her tenure as the Khunti deputy commissioner in 2009-2010. She is currently under judicial custody. In the same case, middleman Prem Prakash was arrested.

The second case is related to alleged illegal mining in Sahebganj, and the third one is of the middleman Amit Aggarwal, who is reportedly involved in a ‘fake’ extortion case. The fourth is a land scam case in which another Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan has been arrested.

A source in the ED said there are orders from the top ‘not to divulge information on which case he will be questioned’.

A top source in the government said: “It is not clear in which case he has been summoned. There are many cases ED is investigating. One of the reasons can be that they don’t want to alert him on the line of questioning.”

Sources in the government, however, said this could be the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the JMM-Congress-RJD government.

“Since Soren was last called for questioning there has been a lull period. Then the Supreme Court gave an order to not entertain two PILs against Hemant Soren. The new Governor C P Radhakrishnan has not made the EC’s opinion on Soren owning the mining lease public yet,” said a source.

“However, given the cautiousness of the Central Government on the issues surrounding the tribal community, the latest being BJP leaders wanting to keep the community away from a Uniform Civil Code, it is not clear to what extent Soren will be pushed. It is a wait-and-watch mode,” added the source.