Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case, citing pre-scheduled events, an official said.

Soren was to be questioned in an alleged defence land scam case

The ED had, last week, sent a notice to Soren to depose on August 14 at the federal agency’s office here and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

“The chief minister did not appear before the ED today in view of his busy schedule and pre-scheduled meetings. He has questioned the timing of the ED summons,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.

Soren was to be questioned in an alleged defence land scam case.

A person from the office of the chief minister turned up at the regional office of the Enforcement Directorate and submitted a sealed envelope.

He told mediapersons that he was not aware of the contents.

A source, however, said, “the CM in the letter alleged that he was being targeted for not being aligned with a political party at the Centre”.

Terming his assets as ‘licit’, the CM has “asked to withdraw the summons”, the source said.

However, this could not be confirmed by the chief minister nor his office.

The 48-year-old Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader was interrogated for over nine hours by the ED on November 17 last year in connection with another money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state.

The central probe agency is investigating more than a dozen land deals, including one related to defence land, wherein a group of mafia, middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly connived to forge deeds and documents from as long back as 1932.

A special PMLA court has already sent Jharkhand IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, arrested by the ED, to jail.