Jharkhand: ED raids minister's staff; recovers Rs 25-cr cash, official documents

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday claimed to have recovered an estimated Rs 25 crore unaccounted cash and several official documents during searches on the premises of a domestic help of a secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam official sources saidA cache of more than Rs 3 crore cash was separately seized by the central agency from some other premises being searched in the state as part of a money laundering investigation linked to the state rural development department the sources saidThe ED has been probing this case since last year and has arrested a former chief engineer of the state rural development departmentVideos and photos shared by the sources showed officials of the agency emptying wads of currency notes from large bags in a 2BHK flat located at Gadikhana Chowk hereAs many as eight notecounting machines were deployed by the agency apart from bank staff to ascertain the exact amount of currency that was majorly in the Rs 500 denomination Personnel of central paramilitary forces stood guard at the building where the flat is locatedIt is claimed Jahangir Alam a domestic help of Congress leader and Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alams personal secretary Sanjiv Lal is residing at this location along with Lal the sources saidThe keys to the premises where the cash was found were seized from Lals flat they saidAn official document written by the ED to the state chief secretary and recommendatory transfer and posting letters were also found during the searches at the premises the source saidMinister Alamgir Alam told PTI that he had no official information regarding this so farI have been watching TV and it says the premises are linked to the official PS private secretary provided to me by the government he addedThe 70yearold minister represents the Pakur seat in the Jharkhand assemblyPrime Minister Narendra Modi who has been alleging that he is being targeted by the opposition for his action against corruption referred to the ED seizures in his poll rallies in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on MondayHe said mounds of cash were seized by the ED in Jharkhand and wondered why such persons were close to the Congress first familyThey have made the workers house a godown of corruption This is not the first time as a bigger seizure was made from an MP in Jharkhand earlier also and it was such a big cache that even machines were tired of counting he said at VemagiriWhy is it that those from whom mounds of cash are recovered are close to the Congress first family Was the seized cash meant for supply somewhere is it that Congress first family has created warehouses of black money The country wants to know from Congress shehzada he said in an apparent jibe at Rahul GandhiModi during the rally in Odisha said he was being criticised for stopping corruption and lootThe Congress and other opposition parties have accused the Modi government of misusing central agencies like the ED to target their leadersED sources said they estimate that the cash could be more than Rs 25 crore but a final figure could only be ascertained after countingTwo currency counting machines had to be replaced as they stopped working due to overheating they saidVisuals show large trunks being taken inside the location so that the cash can be taken for depositing in a bank branchThe agency also seized from the flat a May 2023 official communication written by the Ranchi unit of the ED to the Jharkhand chief secretary seeking an independent probe and registration of an FIR into the revelations of alleged bribes taken from contractorsThese purported disclosures were made by former chief engineer of the rural works department Veerendra Kumar Ram who was arrested by the ED last year in this caseSome recommendation letters written by MLAs and other highprofile people to Alam for favourable transfer and posting of state government officials have also been recovered from the said premises the sources saidA total of six premises are being searched as part of the operation and from two premises the agency has recovered Rs 293 crore and Rs 10 lakh each the sources said Some jewellery has also been seized they saidThe searches are linked to a money laundering case against the former chief engineer of the rural works department Veerendra Kumar Ram who was arrested by the ED last yearVeerendra Kumar Ram posted as chief engineer in the Rural Works Department in Ranchi had generated proceeds of crime in the name of commission from contractors in lieu of allotment of tenders to them the agency had alleged in a statement issued last year in April after it attached assets worth Rs 39 crore of the officerThe proceeds of crime thus generated were used by Veerendra Kumar Ram and his family members to live a very lavish lifestyle it saidThe money laundering case against Ram stems from a complaint of the Jharkhand anticorruption bureau ACBThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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