ED Team Visits Hemant Soren's Delhi Residence; Jharkhand CM To Appear Before Agency On January 31, Claim Reports

New Delhi: An Enforcement Directorate team on Monday visited the residence of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in Delhi in connection with a money laundering investigation. Media reports said that Hemant Soren will appear before the probe agency on January 31.

According to Times Now's report the location of Hemant Soren is not known yet as even the driver is clueless about his whereabouts.

ED officials reached Soren's Delhi residence at 9 am

Officials of the federal probe agency accompanied by Delhi Police personnel reached the 5/1 Shanti Niketan building in South Delhi around 9 am.

The agency had issued the fresh summons to Soren last week asking him to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31. Soren had sent a communication to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) but had not confirmed the date and time for questioning, according to the sources. He left Ranchi for Delhi on January 27.

First statement of Soren recorded on January 20

The agency had recorded the statement of the 48-year-old chief minister for the first time in the case on January 20 after investigators went to his official residence in Ranchi. They recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the about seven hours they spent at his home. It is understood that as the questioning did not finish on that day, the fresh summons was issued.

Probe into money laundering case

The investigation pertains to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the agency. The ED has, so far, arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state's Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi. 

With Inputs from PTI