Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday addressed the media before leaving for the ED office for the questioning in the illegal mining case. “I am a chief minister. I hold a constitutional post. But the way I am being summoned it feels like I will be fleeing the country. In fact, I don’t think apart from businessmen, any political leaders have fled the country,” Hemant Soren said reiterating that the allegations against him are baseless. “I am shocked that how can such a huge allegation can be brought against a chief minister so lightly,” Hemant Soren said.
The chief minister said he has sent a letter to the ED in which he said the aggregate royalty income from stone mining in the entire state for the last two years has been around ₹750 crores. “How come you claim a scam of ₹1,000 crore?” the chief minister said.
The conspiracy to topple the government was working covertly so far, the chief minister said, adding that now the conspiracy can be seen evidently.
A huge number of security personnel were deployed outside the ED office in Ranchi ahead of Hemant Soren’s appearance. Soren was initially summoned on November 4 but he skipped the appearance citing the official schedule, which included attending a tribal festival being organized by the Chhattisgarh government. He had then challenged the ED to arrest him instead of sending a summons to him for questioning.
Soren had sought a three-week deferment of the summons issued to him in the case.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was summoned by ED for investigation over contravention of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and in a money laundering probe linked to an illegal mining case in the Sahebganj district.
