Sanjeev Lal, the Personal Secretary to Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam, and his house help have been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. ED recovered steel trunks filled with cash from the residence of the household help of Sanjiv Lal in Ranchi on Monday, May 6.
Alamgir Alam, the four-term MLA from the Pakur constituency of Jharkhand is a leader of the Congress Legislative Party and is currently serving as the Rural Development Minister of the state. Reportedly, the ED is soon to summon the minister, in connection to the same case.
In the video footage of the raid, ED officials were seen loading large trunks containing the recovered cash onto vehicles. The ED team collected it from the home of Sanjeev Lal's household help. The seized cash is estimated to be around Rs 35.23 crore.
After the Virendra Ram case, the Enforcement Directorate is conducting raids at multiple locations in Jharkhand’s Ranchi. Virendra K Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, was arrested in February 2023 in a money laundering case. During the investigation, ED had raided around 12 locations of Virendra Ram. The former chief engineer was accused of corruption, as alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes were observed.
Moreover, a huge amount of cash was recovered in 2019, from one of the subordinates of Virendra, the ED shifted the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The case had put many other politicians and bureaucrats under ED’s radar of investigations.
News agency PTI reported that Alamgir Alam had no "official confirmation". Alamgir Alam was quoted as saying: "I have been watching TV and it says the premise is linked to the official PS (private secretary) provided to me by the government."
The BJP has pounced on the opportunity. It has demanded Alamgir Alam be arrested and questioned to find links to corrupt leaders in Jharkhand.