BJP's Jharkhand unit president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has demanded the arrest of Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu for the recovery of "unaccounted" cash from his premises.
“Unaccounted cash amounting to around ₹225 crore has been recovered so far through searches being conducted by the Income Tax Department against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and entities linked to it,” officials said on December 8. “An FIR should be lodged against Sahu and he should be arrested,” Mr. Marandi demanded.
Stressing that such a big cash haul is unprecedented, he demanded a thorough probe into the matter and alleged that the money is linked to top Congress leadership as well as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Three dozen counting machines have been deployed by the I-T Department. Since the machines are of a limited capacity, the counting is progressing at a slow pace, sources added. Dhiraj Prasad Sahu could not be contacted, and his office told PTI that he was not available.
Officials said that cash amounting to ₹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.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tagged a news report about the I-T Department recovering ₹200 crore in cash from various locations of a business group allegedly linked to Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, as he attacked the Opposition party.
"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.
