Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Congress leader Alamgir Alam appeared before the Enforcement Directorate at its zonal office in Ranchi on Tuesday. The federal agency had summoned him for questioning in a money laundering case.
Last week, the ED arrested Mr. Alam’s personal secretary Sanjiv Lal and the latter’s domestic help Jahangir Alam following the seizure of more than ₹32 crore cash from a flat linked to them.
Mr. Alam, 70, was asked to depose at the ED office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Before stepping into the ED office, Mr. Alam told reporters that he was a person who followed the law.
The money laundering investigation pertained to alleged irregularities in the State Rural Development department.
The total seizure of cash by the ED in the case, including the ₹3 crore seized from another location, ₹10.05 crore from Mr. Lal’s place and ₹1.50 crore from a contractor’s premises (Tuesday), was recorded as ₹36.75 crore.
Earlier Mr. Alam had distanced himself from the activities of Mr. Lal. Talking to reporters, the Minister said that Mr. Lal had earlier served with other Ministers of the State government too.
“It is ascertained that Sanjeev Lal takes care of the collection of commission on behalf of some influential persons and plays a pivotal role in managing the tenders and collection of commission from engineers, also the said percentage of commission is distributed in a mechanised manner to higher-ups of the government,” the ED had said in its remand papers submitted in court to seek the custody of Mr. Lal and Mr. Jahangir Alam for interrogation
