• ED seizes two luxury cars, huge cash, documents from Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's Delhi residence

    National
    ED seizes two luxury cars, huge cash, documents from Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's Delhi residence

    The Jharkhand Chief Minister, who has reportedly been absent since January 27, has reportedly arrived in Ranchi by road, according to official sources.

    Digital Desk: Official sources stated that during searches at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's official house in Delhi late on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate found several incriminating documents, two expensive vehicles (perhaps BMWs), and Rs 36 lakh in cash.

    In an effort to investigate him over a money laundering case related to a suspected land fraud in Jharkhand, the ED team made their way to 5/1 Shanti Niketan Soren's Delhi home on Monday. The officials stayed outside for thirteen hours and searched the property because Soren was not home.
     
    These are the items that ED took from Soren's home.

    The ED teams reportedly found almost Rs 36 lakh in cash, an HR (Haryana) number plate attached to a BMW registered under a "benami" name, and many "incriminating" documents throughout the course of the day-long operation, according to sources who spoke to news agency PTI.

    The Jharkhand Chief Minister, who has reportedly been absent since January 27, has reportedly arrived in Ranchi by road, according to official sources.

    In the meanwhile, the Jharkhand Chief Minister's residence, Raj Bhavan, and the ED headquarters in Ranchi are all 100 meters from section 144 CrPc. The sources claim that last week, the agency sent Soren a new summons requesting that he confirm his availability for questioning on January 29 or January 31.

    Soren is scheduled for an ED on Wednesday

    In writing to the Enforcement Directorate, Soren has stated that on Wednesday at 1:00 PM at his home, he will record his statement in front of agency representatives. He said that interrogating him now was more politically motivated and intended to sabotage his government's operations, even though he agreed to have his comments recorded.

    "You are well aware that the Budget Session of the Legislative Assembly will be held between 2nd and 29th February 2024 and the undersigned will be pre-occupied with preparations for the same apart from other prior scheduled official engagements," the letter that Soren sent to the ED's Ranchi office indicated.

    "In these circumstances, your insistence to record a further statement of the undersigned on or before 31 January 2024 reeks of malice and reveals your political agenda to disrupt the functioning of the State Government and prevent an elected representative of the people from discharging his official duties," Soren's letter to the ED read.

    The "acts are malafide and politically motivated (and) stand vindicated. The issuance of summon to the undersigned is wholly vexatious and in colourable exercise of powers given by the statute," the letter added.