Responding to the Enforcement Directorate’s summon, Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Manish Ranjan skipped its summon.

He has sought another date for an appearance before the agency, it is learnt.

This means the ED will have to set another date for his questioning. On receipt of its second summon, Manish Ranjan will respond, according to sources. 

The ED had summoned him for questioning in a money laundering case in which it had arrested state minister Alamgir Alam. Ranjan is a former secretary of the Rural Development Department. 

Manish Ranjan is currently the secretary of the land, road, and building department and has been asked to depose before the federal agency at its zonal office in Ranchi on May 24. 

The summons is linked to the ED investigation in which Congress leader and state rural development minister Alamgir Alam, his former personal secretary Sanjeev Kumar Lal, and the latter's domestic help Jahangir Alam were arrested early this month. 

The agency had claimed to have recovered more than Rs 32 crore from a place where Jahangir Alam was residing. 

The probe pertains to alleged irregularities and bribes exchanged between officials and others from contractors working in the state rural development department.