JMM officials alleged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of harassing Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren despite his willingness to appear for questioning on January 31.

“Our leader (read Hemant Soren — leading a JMM-Congress-RJD government in Jharkhand) has already emailed to the ED expressing his availability for their questioning at his residence (CM’s residence in Ranchi) on January 31 at around 1pm.

“However, we are listening to reports about ED camping at his Delhi house on Monday. It proves that the ED is harassing him for political reasons,” alleged JMM central spokesperson and party general
secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya told The Telegraph that the chief minister’s office had emailed to the ED regional office in Ranchi intimating about his availability for questioning.

“The email was sent within the ED stipulated time. He is in Delhi and will appear before the ED on January 31,” said Bhattacharya.

A source in the CM secretariat revealed that the letter of the chief minister had been emailed to the ED on Monday.

“In the letter the CM has accused the ED of attempting to character assassinate him and claimed that false information was being disseminated to the media, leading to a media trial,” the source confirmed.

“The letter also highlighted that the focus of the ED enquiries (during questioning on January 20) was into deposits in the bank accounts of businesses related to Sohrai Events and Sohrai Bhawan between 2018-2022. These
businesses, he clarified, are legal offices held by his wife, Kalpana Soren,” the source added.

Another significant point in the letter was Soren’s response to questions about a piece of land in Bargain that he allegedly owns, which was not disclosed in his Election Commission affidavit.

However, Soren contested this claim, stating that the land in question is classified as Bhuinhari land, which cannot be bought or sold and that the land has been owned by the Pahan (tribal head) family for over five decades.