Odisha: IT raid concludes at Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu's Balangir premises
Balangir: Income tax officials on Tuesday concluded an IT raid at Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu's premises in Odisha's Balangir.
Income Tax officials and CISF personnel could be seen leaving Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu's Balangir's premises in the visuals.
According to sources, around Rs 280 crore cash has been recovered from Dheeraj Sahu's Balangir's premises alone.
On Sunday, during the Income Tax raids at properties connected to Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu, huge stacks of currency notes were seized.
"We received 176 bags and 140 of them have been counted, the rest will be counted today. Officials from 3 banks are involved in the counting process; 50 of our officials are involved. About 40 (currency counting) machines were brought here; 25 are in use and 15 are kept as a backup," the SBI Regional Manager said.
The Income Tax sleuths conducted raids at the premises of Boudh Distilleries Private Limited on Sunday as the crackdown by the central agency entered its fifth day.
Baldev Sahu Infra Pvt Ltd company is a group company of Boudh Distilleries, which is being raised. It is allegedly linked to Sahu.
Income Tax sleuths have, so far, recovered more than Rs 300 crore cash from several locations in Odisha and Jharkhand during their raids against Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL) and entities linked to it.
The residences of Sahu were also searched. The recovery has given fresh ammunition to the BJP to come out all guns blazing at the Congress on the issue of graft.
BJP MP Giriraj Singh said, "You will see how the extent of corruption in the Congress Party is exposed. All this money (Rs 351 crores) was being saved by the Congress to be used in the upcoming elections against PM Modi. The 'Ghamandiya' alliance has given no statement concerning this seizure. Neither has Arvind Kejriwal given his stance on Satyendra Jain's arrest nor has Mamata Banerjee cleared the air around Partha Chatterjee's arrest...The people of India will give a befitting reply to the Congress Party..."
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said, "Congress party and corruption are two synonymous words. The ongoing IT raids against Dhiraj Sahu and all other corrupt activities happening around the country by the Congress and its alliance are getting exposed so the Congress party is very upset with the agencies and the PM. The Congress party can't escape from their wrong deeds, they have to pay a price..."
The Congress on the other hand has tried to distance itself from its Rajya Sabha MP saying the onus is on the MP to explain the cash recoveries.
Congress MP KC Venugopal said, "We have a clear stand, that it has nothing to do with the Congress party. Dheeraj Sahu himself will have to explain why such a seizure is being made from his house. The party is not associated with this at all. We saw weeks ago that a video has come out of a Union Minister's son where he is talking about crores of rupees."