Hemant Soren ready to appear before ED on Jan 20

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren has written to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) agreeing to join the investigation on January 20. He had previously refused to attend questioning in a money laundering case. The CM called the ED summons "illegal" and protested against proceedings he deemed as political vendetta. Last year, the ED had seized/attached assets worth more than Rs 50 crore after multiple searches at the premises of Soren’s close associates. Three associates — Prem Prakash, Pankaj Mishra and Amit Agarwal — were arrested and are in judicial custody.