ED hauls Rs 25 cr cash from maid ‘linked’ to J’khand Min
Eight cash machines were deployed as the raid led to mountains of Rs 500 bundles
RANCHI: 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 said.
A 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 said.
The ED has been probing this case since last year and has arrested a former chief engineer of the state rural development department.
Videos 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 here.
As many as eight note-counting 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 located.
It is claimed Jahangir Alam, a domestic help of Congress leader and Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary Sanjiv Lal, is residing at this location along with Lal, the sources said.
The keys to the premises where the cash was found were seized from Lal’s flat, they said. An 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 said. Minister Alamgir Alam said that he had “no official information regarding this so far.”
“I have been watching TV and it says the premises are linked to the official PS (private secretary) provided to me by the government,” he added.
The 70-year-old minister represents the Pakur seat in the Jharkhand assembly.
ED sources said they estimate that the cash could be more than Rs 25 crore but a final figure could only be ascertained after counting. Two currency counting machines had to be replaced as they stopped working due to overheating, they said.
Visuals show large trunks being taken inside the location so that the cash can be taken for depositing in a bank branch. The 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 contractors.