India’s income tax department has made the “highest-ever” cash recovery after raids on Odisha-based Boudh Distillery, which is owned by Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu.
After five days of counting, which began on Dec 6, the seized amount was calculated at Rs351 crore (S$56.5 million).
This is the “highest-ever” haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country. Besides cash, the tax officers also recovered 3kg of gold ornaments.
The previous highest record of cash recovery was from a Kanpur-based businessman amounting to Rs257 crore in 2019. A year earlier, the department seized Rs163 crore from a person in Tamil Nadu.
During the operations, the tax department carried out searches at Sahu’s office premises in Ranchi, Jharkhand, and other places. The raids were conducted on charges of tax evasion and “off-the-book” transactions.
The counting involved nine teams of about 80 people from the tax department and various banks, working in shifts around the clock. There were 176 bags of cash, and three banks were roped in for the counting, which used 40 currency counting machines, The Hindustan Times reported.
The paper also said that, soon after the counting started, the currency counting machines “gave in” due to the huge amounts of cash, and more had to be brought in.
Another team of 200 officials, including security personnel, drivers and other staff joined in, after tax officials found 10 cupboards stuffed with cash at some locations.
India Today reported that some 200 bags and trunks were used to transport the Rs351 crore, which has been deposited in the tax department’s bank account in Odisha.
The money will remain there until the probe agency goes through all the papers and decides how much of the seized cash is illegal.
The tax department will soon summon the main promoters of the company and record their statements.
As the buzz over the raids spread, on X, an old post by Sahu went viral.
Writing about black money in the nation, he said last year: “I feel pained seeing so much corruption and black money in the country even after demonetisation. This is beyond my understanding how people can accumulate so much black money. Only Congress can uproot corruption from the country.”
Sharing a screenshot of the tweet which went viral, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya made a satirical post on X. “Dhiraj Prasad Sahu has a dark sense of humour,” he said.
The BJP also questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s silence over the matter.
BJP chief J.P. Nadda took to X and wrote: “Brother, both you and your leader Rahul Gandhi will have to answer. This is the new India, here people will not be allowed to be exploited in the name of the royal family. You will get tired running, but the law will not leave you. If Congress is the guarantee of corruption then Modi ji is the guarantee of action against corruption, every penny looted from the public will have to be returned.”
The Congress said that it is in no way connected with Sahu’s businesses, and the MP from Jharkhand should explain the matter.
Taking to X, the Congress general-secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said: “The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alluded to the famous Netflix series Money Heist as he took a dig at Congress over the huge cash haul.
“In India, who needs ‘Money Heist’ fiction when you have the Congress Party, whose heists are legendary for 70 years and counting!” he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
