Income Tax raids continued on Friday in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha at business premises allegedly linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dheeraj Sahu. Highlighting the raids, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a newspaper clipping with photos of notes allegedly worth Rs 200 crore, recovered from Bolangir district in Odisha at one of Sahu’s business premises.
Taking a dig at Congress leaders, Modi wrote: “The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest 'speeches' of their leaders… Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi's guarantee.”
According to Income Tax sources: “Around Rs 200 crore (has been recovered) so far but counting is still on, so the amount will be more. Over 25 premises were searched in Odisha and Jharkhand. In Odisha, some of the areas are in the Naxal territory, so those are sensitive zones.”
Sources said raids continued at Boudh Distillery Private Limited in Odisha, from where the cash was recovered, and were also underway in Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.
Sahu and Jharkhand state Congress president Rajesh Thakur did not respond to calls and messages seeking a comment. Sahu’s Delhi office said he was not available for comment.
Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Neeraj Sinha said: “Dheeraj Prasad Sahu’s business is very old, and his wealth did not grow overnight like Mr Adani’s. Almost all the country liquor manufacturing and selling in Odisha is owned by Dheeraj Sahu, where the transactions are in cash. They are into hospitality, transport, fisheries, liquor and various other businesses. Also, the I-T department has not communicated anything to Dheeraj Sahu as far as we have been informed.”
Sources said his businesses employ more than 1,000 people across several states.
Sahu has been elected to the Rajya Sabha thrice, and is also a Member, Consultative, Committee for the Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. He joined politics in 1977.
Rajya Sabha MP and former Jharkhand BJP chief Deepak Prakash said: “This is the cash recovered from raids from one Congress MP; imagine how many more would be there hollowing our nation in the last 70 years.”
(With inputs from agencies)