Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu is lately hitting the headlines after an Income Tax raid this week resulted in "highest-ever" seizure of “unaccounted” cash worth Rs 290 crore. The saga started after Income Tax sleuths raided the premises of Boudh Distillery Private Limited, an Odisha-based distillery group and entities linked to it on Wednesday.

  


While the Congress party has repeatedly distanced itself from the matter, Bharatiya Janata Party has already clinched the opportunity to launch attacks on the grand old party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 


"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,” said PM Modi in a post on X. 






Who Is Dhiraj Sahu?


The 64-year-old Congress leader started his political career with the party in 1977 as a member of the National Students Union of India between 1978 to 1983, according to an Indian Express report.  


He rose to ranks within the party first as an office-bearer in Jharkhand's Lohardaga district and later with the state's party committee. 


Sahu was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009 bypoll and was elected again in 2010 for his second term. 


He has been a part of various parliamentary committees currently being in the Consultative Committee on Power and New and Renewable Energy, and a member of the Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel, as per the IE report. 


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Sahu is also a businessman who is linked to Baldev Sahu Infra Pvt Ltd company, a group company of Boudh Distilleries which has been covered by the Income Tax department in its raids, according to a Hindustan Times report. 


The Rajya Sabha MP's family has been long associated with the Congress party. His brother, Shiv Prasad Sahu, won the general elections twice from the Ranchi seat on a Congress ticket.


As per the affidavit filed by Dhiraj Sahu during 2018 Rajya Sabha elections, he had reportedly declared assets worth over ₹34 crore, according to a CNBC report.