Income Tax Raids Linked To Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu Continue In Jharkhand, Odisha; Over Rs 200 Crore Cash Recovered So Far

Tax raids continued on Saturday (9 December) at the properties of Dheeraj Sahu, a Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, in Odisha and Jharkhand.

Over Rs 200 crore of unaccounted cash has been recovered so far in the raids that began on Wednesday (6 December) and are still ongoing.

In the recent turn of events, Income Tax officials confiscated an additional three bags from the property of Dheeraj Sahu in Ranchi. Simultaneously, close to 19 bags of money were seized from the residence of Bunty Sahu, who is responsible for overseeing the maintenance of liquor factories in the regions currently undergoing raids in Odisha.

The sum retrieved from Bunty Sahu's residence was expected to exceed Rs 20 crore. This seized money was being transported to banks located in Sudpara in Odisha's Balangir.

The footage displayed several bags filled with cash being transported into a bank located in Balangir.

Meanwhile, news agency PTI reported that the Income Tax department has managed to recover Rs 225 crore in unaccounted cash through their ongoing searches against Boudh Distillery Private Limited, a company based in Odisha, and its associated entities.

Rs 25 crore were counted till Friday afternoon, taking the total amount recovered so far to Rs 225 crore.

The Income Tax department has deployed thirty-six counting machines. However, due to their limited capacity, the counting is advancing at a sluggish rate.

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

The Income Tax department conducted searches at several locations associated with Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd. These included its corporate office situated in Palasapalli, Bhubaneswar, residences of certain company officials, the company's factory, its office in Boudh, and the Ranisati Rice Mill.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the opposition party over the cash seizures.

"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," he said in a post.