NO ESCAPING ED'S SHADOW

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s troubles seem far from over. The Supreme Court on September 18 dismissed his plea to stay the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money-laundering case, and instead asked him to approach the high court first.

- Amitabh Srivastava

His hopes dashed, the CM may now have to appear before the agency on September 23—unless he takes the high court route and gets a ruling in his favour.

This is the fourth summon issued to Soren in less than two months after he failed to appear for questioning twice in August and once this month. The ED, which has been probing several money-laundering cases and allegedly illegal land deals in Jharkhand, wants Soren to record his statement regarding the properties he owns, possesses and occupies. On August 18, the ED had said in a letter to him that the issue was “not about disclosure of personal assets but about the investigation of the assets representing proceeds of crime”. That statement was seen by many as hinting towards an apparent discrepancy in Soren’s declared assets.