THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, Dec 7: The Incomes Tax department, in raids conducted at the premises of Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu in Jharkhand and Odisha for two consecutive days, is said to have recovered almirahs and boxes full of slush money.
Though there is no official confirmation on the exact amount, various newspaper reports put the recovery ranging from Rs 150 crore to Rs 300 crore.
Dheeraj Sahu, a resident of Lohardaga in Jharkhand, is an old Congress leader who began his political career as a student leader in 1977. He is serving as a Rajya Sabha MP for the third time.
Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL)
According to a report, the IT department conducted raids at Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL) in Odisha and Jharkhand on Thursday.
Reports say that Boudh Distilleries Pvt Ltd. is linked to Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu. According to a Prabhat Khabar report, cash exceeding Rs 100 crore has been seized, however, authorities have not confirmed the same.
According to an OdishaTV report, more than Rs 150 crore in cash was confiscated during raids at the Bolangir office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies, one of the largest country-liquor manufacturing and selling firms in western Odisha. Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies is reported to be the partnership firm of Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd.
Newspaper reports say that the companies in question were concealing business activities to evade taxes.
The Income Tax officials also raided the residence of Ashok Kumar Agarwal, a businessman from Purunakatak for his alleged links with the company.
Almirah with currency notes
The IT sleuths have recovered an almirah with currency notes. The counting of notes is still in progress.
ANI reported that the counting of notes up to Rs 50 crore was completed yesterday, however, the counting machines stopped working since the number of notes was huge.
Notably, searches were carried out at five different locations, including Ranchi and Lohardaga residences of Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu. Other than the Sushila Niketan residence on Radium Road in Ranchi, raids were also carried out in Odisha’s Bolangir, Sambalpur, and Kalahandi.
According to officials, searches are going at Bolangir & Sambalpur in Odisha.
OTV reported that in Bolangir, the IT personnel ran out of bags to carry the seized cash. Hence empty sacks were brought in to load the bundles of cash. As the machines stopped working on Wednesday, over 150 bags and sacks full of money were brought to the SBI branch in Bolangir where they were awaiting to be counted.
Raids at Rungta premises
In addition to Boudh Distilleries, the Income Tax Department searched the offices and homes of Ramchandra Rungta, a renowned businessman in Jharkhand in Ramgarh and Ranchi.
