ED quizzes Dhiraj Sahu for over 5 hours for 2nd day in a row

Ranchi: The ED on Sunday interrogated Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, for over five hours as part of the agency's investigation into a money laundering case related to an alleged land fraud, in which former chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested recently.

Sahu appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second consecutive day on Sunday to face questioning, officials said. On Saturday, the ED had interrogated him for around 11 hours.

Sahu entered the ED office here around 3 pm and came out at 8.30pm, official added.

"Some paperwork was going on and I was cooperating," Sahu told reporters after coming out of the ED office.

The ED recorded Sahu's statement in connection with his alleged links with Soren and a luxury car that was seized by the agency from the JMM executive president’s residence in Delhi during a search operation last month, the officials said.

According to the officials, ED sleuths found the car's key in the Jharkhand government-leased property in south Delhi and took the vehicle with them after completing the raids there.

Sahu, after the interrogation on Saturday night, had told reporters, "There is nothing much... The seized vehicle does not belong to the former CM and is owned by someone else... investigations are on." The Congress MP was in the news in December last year after the Income Tax department seized Rs 351.8 crore in cash during raids on the premises linked to Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt. Ltd, promoted by his family.

Sahibganj Deputy Commissioner Ramniwas Yadav was also quizzed for the second consecutive day by the ED on Sunday in a money laundering investigation linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, officials said.