Hemant Soren skips ED summons in Ranchi, dares agency to arrest him

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who was summoned to appear for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), skipped the summons on Thursday and dared the federal agency to arrest him if it considered him involved in alleged illegal mining in the state.

Come and arrest me if I have committed corruption. Why send the summons for questioning? Come and arrest me straight away, then people will give you an adequate reply,” Soren said, addressing a large group of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) workers who gathered outside his official residence before flying to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur to attend a tribal festival.

Soren, 47, said the summons by the federal agency was part of a larger conspiracy to destabilise his government which he said, received a historic mandate in 2019 and was designed to intimidate the coalition government and its supporters by showing how powerful they are. In July, ED arrested Hemant Soren’s political aide Pankaj Mishra on charges of money laundering in connection with alleged illegal mining and transportation in the state. The following month, Mishra’s associates, Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash were also arrested by ED.