Over Rs 250 Cr Cash Recovered After Raid on Cong MP’s Premises, BJP Calls it ‘Corruption ka Karobaar’

The Income Tax Department on Friday recovered at least Rs 250 crore of “unaccounted” from premises linked to Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. The raids were conducted against an Odisha-based distillery group and entities linked to it.

As per reports, three dozen counting machines were deployed by the tax department during the seizure.

Officials present during the raid told PTI that cash amounting to Rs 200 crore, stashed in almirahs, was recovered from the premises of the distillery group in Balangir district, while the remaining amount was found from other locations, such as Sambalpur and Sundargarh in Odisha, Bokaro and Ranchi in Jharkhand and Kolkata.

The recovery of unaccounted cash from the premises linked to a Congress MP triggered a political controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, attacking the age-old party over the issue of corruption.

In a post on X, PM Modi tagged a news report about the I-T department recovering Rs 200 crore in cash from various locations of a business group allegedly linked to Sahu and said that every penny looted from the taxpayers will be recovered.

“Countrymen should look at these piles of currency notes and then hear the addresses of its (Congress) leaders on honesty. Every penny looted from people will have to be returned. This is Modi’s guarantee,” Modi said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Anurag Thakur also pulled up Congress leadership over the raids and said that the biggest reason the opposition party opposes demonisation is their involvement in corrupt practices.

“The biggest question is why Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi always speak against demonetisation. In Jharkhand, from Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu’s place, Rs 200 crores were recovered. Wherever there is Congress, there is corruption, that is why Congress keeps raising questions on ED and CBI,” Thakur said.

Union Minister and veteran BJP leader Smriti Irani also attacked the Congress party and said they will have to give answers as they cannot remain silent on such matters.

“Mohabbat ki dukaan par corruption ka karobaar chal raha hai. Congress will have to answer on this,” Irani said.

BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia while addressing a press conference on the issue said, “It would not be wrong to say that on one hand, there is Ghamandiya’s guarantee of corruption and other hand, there is PM’s guarantee to root out corruption. News has prominently emerged about a Congress MP named Dhiraj Sahu. The IT raids on liquor manufacturing group Baldev Sahu in three states – Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal – went on for two days. The facts coming to light are worrying. Nearly 100 crore in nine almirahs has been recovered.”

(With PTI inputs)