RANCHI: Amid speculation that something big is imminent in Jharkhand politics, the state’s ruling alliance led by the JMM has called a legislature party meeting on Wednesday. The move comes amid a buzz that the Gandey Assembly seat has been vacated for CM Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana in case the ongoing probe by the Enforcement Directorate in a land scam case turns against him.
Soren has skipped all previous seven summons issued to him for questioning in the land scam case. He was given a deadline of two days asking about his availability for the questioning, which too has expired. In the seventh summons issued to him on December 29, the ED asked him to decide the date, time and place himself, making it convenient for the officials to interrogate him.
Meanwhile, Soren on Tuesday sent a sealed envelope to the office of the Enforcement Directorate through a special messenger from the CM secretariat. In his three-page letter, Soren is learnt to have said that he would challenge the investigation.
ED sources said it is very unlikely that Soren would join questioning because he has doubted the investigation itself. Soren in his letter is said to have indicated that he is not going to appear before the investigating agency. He also alleged that issuing summons one after another against him is politically motivated and is an attempt to malign his image.
According to Soren, media gets all information ahead of the summons received by him triggering a media trial, which is not justified. The ED has already summoned Soren six times in land scam case but he has ignored all of them. The Jharkhand High Court has also rejected his petition challenging the summons issued against him by the ED in the case.
Soren moved the Jharkhand High Court after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his petition directing him to approach the High Court instead of coming directly to the apex court. Soren skipped the first summons on August 14, and wrote to the ED asking it to withdraw the summons or he will be forced to take legal action against the agency.
But, the ED again issued summons against Soren asking him to appear before it on August 24. Soren skipped it again, writing again to the ED saying that he has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the summons issued to him. But he was summoned again for a third time.
Soren was waiting for the hearing of his petition in the Supreme Court on September 17. But before that he was issued fresh summons by ED asking to appear before it on September 23. In spite of going to ED office, Soren approached the Jharkhand High Court against the summons issued against him and sought relief. A few days later, ED issued fresh summons, this time for the fifth time, asking Soren to appear before the central investigation agency on October 4, which he skipped again.