ED arrests Jharkhand CM Soren's political aide Pankaj Mishra on money laundering charges

Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in connection with a money laundering investigation being conducted against him and others, officials said.

They said Mishra was arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and claimed that he was "evasive in his replies" during questioning.

Mishra is expected to be presented before a Ranchi court on Wednesday where the ED will seek his custody.

The federal probe agency had raided his premises and those linked to him last week in the state.

After the raids, the ED had frozen deposits of Rs 11.88 crore lying in 37 bank accounts belonging to Mishra and Dahoo Yadav, a person linked to him.

Apart from this, Rs 5.34 crore "unaccounted" cash was also seized by the agency, which claimed that these monies were linked to "illegal mining" in the state.