ED arrests Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's aide Pankaj Mishra in money laundering case

Ranchi, July 19: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested Pankaj Mishra, political aide of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, over money laundering charges in Ranchi, news agency PTI cited officials as saying.

The officials added that Mishra was arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and claimed that he was "evasive in his replies" during questioning.

Mishra is expected to be presented before a Ranchi court on Wednesday where the ED will seek his custody.

The federal probe agency had raided his premises and those linked to him last week in the state.

After the raids, the ED had frozen deposits of Rs 11.88 crore lying in 37 bank accounts belonging to Mishra and Dahoo Yadav, a person linked to him.

Apart from this, Rs 5.34 crore "unaccounted" cash was also seized by the agency, which claimed that these monies were linked to "illegal mining" in the state.