Hemant Soren did not attend ED’s Ranchi Zonal Office on Thursday. At one o’clock in the day, he sent a letter to the assistant director of ED through Suraj, an employee of the Chief Minister’s residence.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren did not attend the Ranchi Zonal Office of ED on Thursday. At one o’clock in the day, he sent a letter to the assistant director of ED through Suraj, an employee of the Chief Minister’s residence. Along with this letter, he informed the ED that he has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the summons. The Chief Minister has said not to interrogate the ED till the decision comes in the Supreme Court.
Significantly, in the Ranchi land scam, the ED issued summons for the first time and called Hemant Soren for questioning on August 14. That day also he did not reach the ED office and sent a letter through an employee. In this letter, he made many allegations against the investigating agency, calling the summons politically motivated.
In the letter sent by the Chief Minister on the first summons, it was said that Lokpal, CBI and ED have been given all the information related to his and his family’s property. If ED wants, it can take documents from these agencies. He can provide again or other information on demand.
The CM had also said in the letter that the central agencies have been targeting the Chief Minister for the past more than a year only because he is not with the party which is in power at the Centre. The ED had summoned him on 17 November 2022 to link him with alleged illegal mining. On the demand of ED, the CM has given the details of all the properties owned by him and his family only on 30 November 2022. If it is lost, it will be given on demand again.
The CM has also termed the summons as malicious and part of a conspiracy to destabilize the government. The CM had said to withdraw the summons. Along with this, he had talked about going to the Supreme Court on this issue. After this, the investigating agency had also sent a letter to the Chief Minister in response to this letter and while calling the allegations wrong, issued summons again and called him to the office in Ranchi for questioning on August 24.
The Chief Minister called the summons politically motivated
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in his letter sent to the ED on Thursday also termed the summons issued against him as politically motivated. Earlier on August 14 also, Hemant Soren had written a letter to the ED alleging that the summons issued against him was completely politically motivated. He has already provided complete details of his and his family’s assets to the ED.
CM discussed deeply with the Advocate General
Hemant Soren was to reach the ED office at 11 am on Thursday. But the Chief Minister called the Advocate General at around 12 o’clock in the day. During this, he consulted the Advocate General, after which he sent a letter to the ED. After sending the letter to the ED, the Chief Minister himself left for the Project Bhawan Secretariat.
Adequate security arrangements were made
Adequate security arrangements were made in the ED office regarding the questioning of the Chief Minister. A large number of CRPF and police personnel were deployed. Barricading was also put up outside the ED office. The team of officers had reached at 11.30 a.m. for the preparations for the inquiry.
