If CM Soren skips its 7th summon, ED may move PMLA court seeking warrant of arrest against him

“It has been underlined in the summon that if he does not respond to the summon as expected, it will be considered that he is deliberately not honouring the ED summon.”

This sentence sums up the crux of the seventh summon issued by the Enforcement Directorate to the CM Hemant Soren for questioning him in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe related to alleged land scam in the state capital.

Mr Soren has been asked to select the site of his choice for questioning and inform the agency within two days( with effect from Friday) to get his statement recorded under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Information accessed by JharkhandStateNews indicates that the ED had sent summon on Friday.

The CM Soren has two alternatives. He can decide not to appear before the ED. Two, he can inform the agency about a place which is appropriate for both sides to get his statement recorded.

ED claims that Soren’s statement has to be recorded in seven days from the day the summon has been issued. Now, response of the CM Soren is awaited by the agency.

Legal experts say, if CM Hemant Soren stick to his previous stand to skip the summon, the ED can move the PMLA court seeking issuance of warrant of arrest against him.

The federal agency in its previous summons used to call the chief minister for questioning at its zonal office in Ranchi. However, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader refused to appear before the agency on all six previous occasions, reportedly citing different reasons including lack of clarity in the summon, describing the summon politically motivated, illegal and questioned it in the Jharkhand high court that dismissed his petition.

According to reliable information,agency has made it clear that its fresh summon has given details of the case in which he is expected to get his statement recorded.

“It has been underlined in the summon that if he does not respond to the summon as expected, it will be considered that he is deliberately not honouring the ED summon,” an ED source said.