The Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam to appear before the agency on 14th May at the Ranchi Zonal Office. He has been summoned in connection with the recovery of huge cash from the domestic help of his PS Sanjeev Lal.
On May 6, ED conducted raids in Ranchi recovering over Rs. 35 crore unaccounted cash from the 2BHK house of Sanjeev Lal’s domestic help Jehangir, as part of a money laundering investigation related to alleged irregularities in the state rural development department.
Later, both of them were arrested by the probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and were sent to six days' custody. Alamgir Alam, Jharkhand rural development minister from Congress-quota had denied having any involvement in the case.
Political exchanges over the issue
The seizure became the centre of attention in the political landscape with the BJP taking a sharp hit at Congress and JJM coalition government in Jharkhand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the huge trench of currency bundles as the “mountain of notes.”
He accused the Congress party of being ever indulged in corruption, drawing reminiscence from a similar incident last year, when another huge cash recovery was made in Jharkhand.
In December 2023, the Income Tax department conducted massive raids across properties related to Congress’ Jharkhand MP Dhiraj Sahu. Over Rs. 351 crore cash was recovered.
How the case evolved?
The latest case stems from the chain of events that started in 2019. Back then a huge amount of cash was recovered from one of the subordinates of Virendra Ram. Ram was the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department. Later the ED took over the case under PMLA Act.
Virendra was later nabbed by the ED after it launched multiple searches on February 21, 2023, in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar and Delhi. Virendra has been accused of accumulating assets valued at 100 crore. During his arrest authorities purportedly found a pen drive containing transaction records allegedly involving some politicians from Jharkhand.
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