On Tuesday night, JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya threatened to confront the ED in a political manner, accusing it of serving as a political front for the BJP-led Centre.
Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, has consented to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at his official house on January 20.
His party, JMM, has expressed “huge resentment” towards the federal agency and accused it of serving as the BJP’s political front.
On Tuesday night, JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya threatened to confront the ED in a political manner, accusing it of serving as a political front for the BJP-led Centre.
“We have observed the ED’s persistent fabrication of a story in states run by opposition parties, i.e., parties other than the BJP. Our chief minister in Jharkhand is called in on August 14th, well aware of the constitutional head’s obligations on Independence Day. There have been numerous summonses in the New Year as well; the contents of the summonses are leaked by ED sources rather than being issued formally. We may deal with the ED as a political body since it is evident that it is functioning as the BJP’s political front, added Bhattacharya.
“ED sources told the media about cash seizures even after raids, but the official statement did not specify how much was taken from each individual. Since there appears to be strong tribal opposition to this plot to overthrow an elected government and because this opposition could turn violent at any time, we would like the ED to uphold its integrity,” stated Bhattacharya.
Congress working president Bandhu Tirkey made reference to tribal discontent at ED’s repeated summonses of Soren on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the ED has been invited to appear for questioning on January 20 afternoon, according to sources in the chief minister’s secretariat.
“Until January 19 (the last day), the CM will be occupied with the Women’s FIH Hockey Olympic qualifiers 2024 at Ranchi. According to the source, this is the reason the ED was invited to be questioned in the afternoon of January 20 at the CM home.
Interestingly, following the eighth summons, Soren, the chairman of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance government in Jharkhand, consented to questioning in connection with a purported land scam case. This message was delivered by special messenger to the ED headquarters in Ranchi on Monday afternoon.
According to sources, Soren received a letter from the ED on Saturday, giving him five days (16–20 January) to record his statement. The letter further requested that Soren notify the location and time of the recording within two days.
Additionally, he has been warned that the ED would contact him to record his statement if he fails to show up.
The chief minister has been requested by the ED to consider the letter received as a summons.
Interestingly, Soren had attacked the federal agency earlier this year in response to the ED’s seventh summons, calling its investigation into the chief minister’s involvement in a land fraud in Ranchi and the suspected money laundering allegations related to it “baseless and biassed.”
In addition, the letter hinted at filing a lawsuit against the summons and accused the ED of holding a media trial against him.
Soren hasn’t responded to any of the ED summonses thus yet. Citing the ED’s summonses as “unwarranted,” he had filed applications with the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court requesting protection from the agency’s operations. His petitions were dismissed by both courts.
November 2022 was when he had last attended an ED summons.
Hemlal Murmu, a former MP and senior JMM leader, said that the ED was intimidating Jharkhand’s elected state government and disclosed that a bandh had been scheduled in the Sahibganj district on Wednesday in opposition to Soren’s repeated summonses.