Jharkhand Congress Minister Used To Take "Fixed Commission Of 1.5 Per Cent": ED Gets Six-Day Custody Of Alamgir Alam

While seeking the remand of Jharkhand Congress Minister Alamgir Alam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (16 May) claimed that the cash worth Rs 32.2 crore recovered from his personal secretary's domestic help belongs to Alam.

Alam is the Rural Development Minister in the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand. The cash was recovered from raids conducted on 6 May on the premises of Alam's aide Sanjeev Kumar Lal and his domestic help Jahangir Alam.

The duo was arrested last week. Then Alam was summoned by the ED on Tuesday and questioned for 10 hours. Subsequently, he too was arrested on Wednesday in the money laundering case related to the rural department.

Alam was presented before Justice Prabhat Kumar Sharma in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court today and was sent to six days of ED custody.

The ED asserted that the cash seized was collected by Jahangir Alam at the instruction of Sanjeev Kumar Lal who in turn was doing so on behalf of Alamgir Alam, as per the Economic Times.

The central investigative agency also established that Lal was using the said premise for keeping documents, records, cash and other belongings "related to" Alamgir Alam.

The agency accused Lal of playing a "pivotal role in managing the tenders and collection of commission from engineers" as Alam used to take 1.5 per cent share as "fixed commission."

"The said percentage of commission is distributed in a mechanised manner to higher-ups of government... Several officials from top to bottom of rural development department are involved in this nexus," the ED said.

The agency will now unearth the laundered cash which was received as "huge payments". Former Chief Engineer Veerendra Kumar Ram is also accused of collecting commissions in terms of allocation of tender and execution of work.

Ram was arrested last year in February and his assets worth Rs 39 crore were attached as the ED considered it generated through proceeds of crime. The investigation began in September 2020.