Jharkhand cash seizure: ED sources said that cash worth more than Rs 32 crore was seized from premises linked to the minister, while in searches conducted at some other premises, cash worth more than Rs 3 crore was separately recovered.
In Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, ED has found a mountain of notes, counting which not only the officers were getting tired, but the machines were also giving up. The ED (Enforcement Directorate) on Monday recovered ‘unaccounted’ cash worth Rs 35.23 crore and several official documents during raids on several premises of a domestic help allegedly linked to the secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam. ED sources said that cash worth more than Rs 32 crore was seized from premises linked to the minister, while searches conducted at some other premises separately led to the recovery of cash worth more than Rs 3 crore. Now the question arises that how did ED get information about this unaccounted cash?
In fact, if we look at this whole matter, then in just a matter of Rs 10 thousand, ED has reached the treasury of the accused worth Rs 32 crores. When ED i.e. Enforcement Directorate arrested Virendra Ram, Chief Engineer of Jharkhand Rural Development Department, in February last year, even the officials did not anticipate that there would be such big revelations in the future. Virendra Ram was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of just Rs 10,000. While solving the mystery of this bribe of Rs 10 thousand, ED has reached a mountain of notes worth Rs 32 crore.
According to India Today report, during interrogation last year, accused Virendra Ram had revealed a complex network of corruption, in which he had mentioned several officers involved in this collusion. He had exposed the modus operandi in which bribe money was sent through various channels, especially during the tender process. After this revelation, ED confirmed Ram’s claims with intelligence gathered from various sources and then started a detailed investigation. Subsequent inquiries indicated the widespread nature of corruption within Jharkhand’s rural development department, following which the ED sent a confidential letter to the state chief secretary on May 9 last year, urging prompt action. It was claimed in the report that confidential letters had also fallen into the hands of those who themselves were under the ambit of this investigation. This is the reason why collusion in corruption cases kept coming to light and no action was taken.
According to news agency PTI, the investigating agency ED also seized from the flat an official letter written by the ED’s Ranchi unit to the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand in May 2023, calling for an independent investigation and FIR to ‘reveal’ the alleged bribes taken from contractors. A demand was made to register. These alleged revelations were made by Virendra Kumar Ram, former Chief Engineer of the Rural Works Department, who was arrested by the ED in this case last year. Sources said that some recommendation letters written to Alam by MLAs and other big people for favorable transfer and posting of state government officials have also been recovered from the said premises. Sources said that a total of six premises were searched under the operation and the agency recovered Rs 2.93 crore from one premises and Rs 10 lakh from another premises.
This raid is related to the money laundering case against Virendra Kumar Ram, former Chief Engineer of the Rural Works Department, who was arrested by the ED last year. The agency had alleged in a statement issued last year, ‘Virendra Kumar Ram, posted as Chief Engineer in the Rural Works Department in Ranchi, had earned illegal income in the name of bribe from contractors in return for allotting tenders to them.’ The agency had seized assets worth Rs 39 crore of the officer. “Thus, the proceeds of crime were used by Virendra Kumar Ram and his family members to live a ‘luxurious’ lifestyle,” the statement said. The money laundering case against Virendra is related to a complaint by the Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
