The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh communication to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, asking him to again join the investigation in a money laundering case next week, official sources said on Saturday.

Soren has been asked to confirm his availability for questioning on either January 29 or January 31, they said.

The central agency had earlier asked the Jharkhand chief minister to join the probe on any date between January 27 and 31 but since there was no official response, it has issued a fresh letter-cum-summons to the JMM leader.

The ED recorded Soren’s statement for the first time in the case on January 20 after the investigators went to his official residence in Ranchi. The statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It has been learnt that the fresh summons was issued as the questioning had not been completed that day.

The investigation pertains to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the agency.

The ED has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state’s social welfare department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

JMM slams Nitish

The JMM on Saturday claimed that Nitish Kumar was not trustworthy, and that the JDU chief “himself doesn’t know which party he belongs to”.

JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said Kumar was not made the convener of the INDIA bloc because of the lack of trust in him by the Opposition grouping.