ED begins questioning of Soren’s press adviser
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday started questioning former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s press adviser Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu in a case of money laundering involving tribal land and stone mines, officials close to the developments said.
“ED had raided the hideouts of Pintu and many other people on the morning of January 3, 2024. For questioning in the same case, ED asked Sahibganj DC to appear in the ED office on January 11, Vinod Singh on January 15, and former CM’s press advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu on January 16. However, Pintu had written a letter to ED saying that his wife is ill, hence he should be given time after January 22 for questioning. After which ED sent a summons to Pintu and called him for questioning today,” an ED official said.
While it could not be ascertained what questions were put before Pintu, ED officials familiar with the matter said that the probe agency “will try to get all those documents and material evidence verified which it had seized during the raid”.
“ED had accessed a lot of important data from the house of Pintu. It also seized mobile phones,” a second official said.
The official further said besides Pintu, several others have been summoned by the ED in March and April in connection with several cases.
“On March 19 and March 20, ED will interrogate Hatia DySP Pramod Kumar and IAS Avinash Kumar’s wife, Preeti Kumar, respectively. After Holi, on April 4, ED will interrogate Congress’s Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad in the case of land scam, extortion, and money laundering of money earned in cases registered under the Arms Act. Amba’s father, Yogendra Sao, will be interrogated on April 3, and Amba’s brother Ankit Raj will be interrogated on April 5. ED has also summoned Dhanbad’s Govindpur CO and Hazaribagh’s former CO, Shashi Bhushan Singh, on April 2,” the official said.