Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren skipped the second summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and carried on with his scheduled meetings in Ranchi on Thursday.

Sources in the ED office in Ranchi informed that a special messenger from the chief minister’s secretariat had arrived in the afternoon at the ED office and handed over a letter.

“The chief minister has informed in the letter addressed to the assistant director of the ED Ranchi office, Deovrat Jha, that he has challenged the ED summons in the Supreme Court and would not be able to attend the summons on Thursday,” said a source in the ED office.

The ED had issued a second summons to Soren in the alleged money laundering case and the chief minister had been asked to join in the investigation on the morning of August 24. Earlier, he was asked to appear before the ED on August 14.

Soren had on August 14 given enough indication of bracing for a showdown with the ED by threatening in a letter addressed to the assistant director of the ED Ranchi office of legal action if the summons issued on August 7 was not withdrawn.

At a public meeting in Dumri on August 17, the chief minister reiterated that whenever the Jharkhand government asked for its legitimate dues (allegedly coal royalty dues worth Rs 1.36 lakh crore) from the Centre, attempts were made to silence them by using the central agencies.