Ranchi, September 23: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was consulting his legal team before taking a call on joining the ongoing probe into an alleged land scam by the Enforcement Directorate, Manoj Pandey, a spokesperson for the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, informed on Saturday. The ED had summoned the Jharkhand CM earlier, asking him to appear on Saturday for questioning at their zonal office in Ranchi.

Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the JMM spokesperson said, "He is holding consultations with his legal team (on joining the ED probe)." On the BJP's barb as to why the CM was not appearing before the probe agency if he had nothing to hide, Pandey said, "We are not bothered about what they are saying. He was elected CM by the people. Can the ED summon him on baseless allegations?" Hemant Soren Gets ED Summons: Jharkhand CM Summoned by Enforcement Directorate in Money Laundering Case.

Claiming that the ongoing probe was nothing but a witchhunt being carried out on the "orders" of the BJP-led central government, the JMM spokesperson said, "The central government should have some shame. On whose orders is the ED probe being done?"

The latest summons is the fourth to be issued to the Jharkhand CM for questioning in connection with the case. Soren was summoned earlier by the central agency in mid-August. However, the CM did not answer the summons then, citing his preoccupation with the Independence Day celebrations in the state. He was asked to appear before the central agency again on August 24 and September 9 but ignored both the summonses. Hemant Soren Summoned by ED: Enforcement Directorate Summons Jharkhand CM in Money Laundering Case, Asks to Appear Next Week in Ranchi.

The CM wrote to the central probe agency, claiming that he had provided all necessary documents and information pertaining to the case. He also warned of legal action if the ED did not withdraw its summonses against him. In a setback to the Jharkhand CM about a week ago, the Supreme Court advised him to take his plea, seeking withdrawal of the ED summonses in the money laundering case, at the high court concerned.

An apex court bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi refused to entertain the plea filed by Soren. Soren had filed a petition in the SC challenging the summonses issued against him, saying that the case against him was a clear case of "abuse of law" by the Centre. He also alleged misuse of the central agencies to destabilise a "democratically-elected government" in Jharkhand.

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