ED seizes Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's BMW car after day-long effort to trace him

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday seized a BMW car belonging to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren from his Delhi house.
The action by the central agency comes after its day-long effort to track the CM for questioning in an alleged money laundering case.
Earlier in the day, the ED could not trace Hemant Soren at his Delhi residence.The Jharkhand chief minister had come to the national capital from Ranchi on January 27.

Soren, 48, who is also the executive president of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), left for the national capital on January 27 night, while his scheduled government events in the state on Monday were cancelled without any explanation.
ED had recorded the statement of Soren for the first time in the case on January 20 after a 7-hour-long questioning at his official residence in Ranchi. The investigation pertains to a "huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia" in Jharkhand, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, as speculations started doing the rounds about Soren's whereabouts, the chief minister's family members termed the narratives "designed" to delegitimise the JMM leader's position.

The family member, who did not wish his identity to be revealed, told PTI that a false narrative was being put forward despite repeated communication to ED and compliance to the summons including willingness to "record his statement on January 31 at 1 pm at his residence".
"It is a political vendetta. Not being in the house is not equivalent to fleeing. If a person is not in his residence, he can be anywhere. This is not a warrant that he has to be available. He is in Delhi and will reach Ranchi tonight or on Tuesday," the family member told PTI.
(With PTI inputs)