Hemant Soren to attend G20 dinner in New Delhi, give ED summons a miss

Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will travel to New Delhi on Saturday to attend the dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for the G20 summit, which meant that he would miss appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in a money laundering case.

Soren did not appear before the ED on August 14 and August 24 as well.

The ED then asked him to appear at its regional office in Ranchi on September 9.

"CM Hemant Soren will leave for New Delhi to attend the dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for officials of the G20 summit," the chief minister's office (CMO) said in a statement.

The central probe agency is investigating more than a dozen land deals, including one related to defence land, wherein a group of land mafia, middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly connived to forge deeds and documents that go back as long back as 1932.

The ED has arrested several people in connection with the case.

Soren, the leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, was interrogated for over nine hours by the ED on November 18 last year in another money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state.