A day after being arrested in a money laundering case, Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam was on Thursday remanded to the custody of the central agency for six days. According to lawyers, the minister was produced before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi amid tight security arrangements.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Jharkhand Rural Minister was taken into custody at the agency's zonal office in Ranchi under the provisions of the PMLA. He was interrogated for about six hours on the second day of questioning. He was grilled by the federal agency on Tuesday for over nine hours and his statement was also recorded. Alam represents the Pakur seat in Jharkhand assembly and is also the parliamentary affairs minister.
Allegations of bribery and irregularities
He came under the ED radar following the recent arrest of his personal secretary and state administrative service officer Sanjeev Kumar Lal and the latter's domestic help Jahangir Alam who were raided by the agency on May 6. The agency seized more than Rs 32 crore cash from a flat linked to them.
The minister had earlier told reporters that he was a "law-abiding" citizen as he sought to distance himself from the activities of Lal, saying he had worked with other ministers of the state government too in the past. The money laundering investigation pertains to alleged irregularities and payment of "bribes" in the state rural development department.
ED seized over Rs 36 crore in cash
It should be noted here that the total seizure of cash by the ED in this case has been recorded at around Rs 36.75 crore as the agency seized about Rs 3 crore from other locations including Rs 10.05 lakh from Lal's place and Rs 1.5 crore from a contractor's place.
The money laundering case of September 2020 is based on an anti-corruption branch (Jamshedpur) case of Jharkhand Police and a March 2023 FIR filed by the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police against former chief engineer of the state rural works department Veerendra Kumar Ram and some others. Ram was arrested by the ED last year.
(With PTI inputs)
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