Hemant Soren probe: ED summons Cong MP Dhiraj Sahu for questioning in money laundering case

Ranchi/New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dhiraj Prasad Sahu for questioning in a money laundering case in which the central agency recently arrested former chief minister Hemant Soren, official sources said Thursday.

Sahu, 64, was in the news after the Income-tax department in December recovered Rs 351.8 crore cash, an all-time high seizure, during raids against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt. Ltd. (BDPL), promoted by the family of the Congress legislator.

The MP is understood to have been summoned to appear on February 10 at the ED office in Ranchi. A response from Sahu on PTI's query in this context is awaited.

Sources said the ED wants to question and record Sahu's statement in connection with his purported links with Soren and a BMW SUV that was seized by the agency from the JMM leader's house in Delhi during searches last month.

According to the ED sources, agency officials found the keys of the vehicle in the Jharkhand government leased residence in south Delhi and they took the SUV with them at the conclusion of the raids and parked it at their headquarters in the national capital.

The agency also raided a premise in Kadarpur village in Gurugram (Haryana) on Wednesday on whose address this Haryana number plate bearing SUV is stated to have been registered, the sources said.

Two locations in Kolkata were also searched in the same case on Wednesday.

The ED suspects this vehicle to be allegedly linked to Sahu in an alleged "benami" manner.

Some other persons linked to the case have been summoned by the agency for questioning and confrontation with Soren and another accused in the case-- Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a former revenue department sub-inspector of the Jharkhand government.

The 48-year-old Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 on money laundering charges in an alleged illegal land acquisition and possession case.

Soren resigned as the Jharkhand CM before he was formally arrested that day. He is in the ED custody at present.