The Jharkhand Police have summoned Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for questioning on March 21 in connection with a case filed on former chief minister Hemant Soren’s complaint accusing them of “harassing and maligning him and his community”. The summons were issued a week after the Jharkhand high court directed police against taking any coercive action against the ED officials.
Senior police superintendent (Ranchi) Chandan Kumar Sinha confirmed the summons were issued but refused to share further details. “The investigating officer will be able to give further details.”Ajay Kumar Sinha, the investigating officer, could not be contacted for his comments. He was in Delhi as part of the probe into the case.ED moved the high court on February 5. Soren lodged the case on January 31, the day the federal agency arrested him over alleged land-related irregularities.ED challenged the First Information Report (FIR) against its officials under the stringent Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) on the grounds of jurisdiction, intention, and law application. It argued the Act does not apply to persons doing official duty.