Rs 34 crore seizure: ED arrests personal secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam, his domestic help
Rs 34 crore seizure: ED arrests personal secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam, his domestic help
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Jharkhand Congress Minister Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary (PS) Sanjiv Lal and the officer’s domestic help following raids conducted at various premises on Monday which led to the seizure of around Rs 34.50 crore in cash, sources in the agency confirmed.
“We arrested the PS Sanjiv Lal and his house help Jahangir Alam late on Monday night. We will be taking them on remand and enquiring about the source of funds. We have also seized certain incriminating documents such as a list of transfer posting requests and the ED’s letter last year to the chief secretary asking for action against Virendra Ram. We are analysing the documents, ” said a source with the central agency.
The searches are linked to a money laundering case against former chief engineer Virendra Kumar Ram of the state Rural Development Department. He was arrested by the ED last year.
Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam distanced himself from the matter soon after and said that he did not have any information on the ED action. “I don’t know what is being said about it, but the PS (personal secretary) is a government officer and we keep such people who have experience. Sanjiv Lal has been a PS to ministers before,” he had said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the ED seizures during his election rally in Andhra Pradesh’s Vemagiri. “Why is it that those from whom mounds of cash are recovered are close to the Congress’s first family? Was the seized cash meant for supply somewhere? Is it that the Congress’s first family has created warehouses of black money? The country wants to know from Congress’s Shehzada,” he said, in an apparent jibe at Rahul Gandhi.
The Jharkhand Congress had earlier pointed out that Sanjiv Lal had also worked as the personal secretary of former BJP minister C P Singh. Lal has been Alam’s personal secretary since the latter became a Cabinet minister in 2019.
The party said the ED action was timed to happen right ahead of Rahul’s visit to the state on Tuesday for a poll rally.
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