Jharkhand: ED arrests minister Aalamgir Alam, days after it recovers huge cash haul from premises linked to his PS

Jharkhand’s Rural Development Minister, Alamgir Alam, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after appearing before the Ranchi based zonal office of the agency for the second consecutive day. He was apprehended by the officials after he reportedly did not cooperate during the inquiry pertaining to the case.

The minister from the Congress quota in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led coalition government was earlier asked to appear before the agency on Wednesday, May 15, in connection with a money laundering case.

Earlier, the minister was also grilled by the sleuths of the agencies for around nine hours on May 14, following which he was asked to appear again on Wednesday.

According to the reports, the congress leader was asked questions pertaining to recovery made by the agency from the house help of his Personal Secretary (PS) Sanjiv Lal to which Alam reportedly expressed ignorance.

Alam has reportedly informed the officials that he was not aware of the activities of Jehangir, the help of Alam’s PS Sanjiv. He also expressed ignorance about questions linked to Virendra Ram, a former chief engineer of the rural development department of Jharkhand accused in the money laundering case.

Earlier, while appearing before the ED’s officials on Tuesday, Alam said that he is appearing before the agency as he is a law abiding citizen.

Notably, the Jharkhand’s minister, after the seizure of the cash from a premises linked to his PS, remarked that Lal is a government employee who has served as a personal secretary with two former ministers.

“There are several government employees, and we usually appoint personal secretaries based on experience. It is not right to comment on the raids before ED’s investigation is completed,” said Alam.

ED’s investigation into the case

It must be noted that earlier, the sleuths of the agency arrested Alamgir Alam PS Sanjiv Lal along with his domestic help Jahangir in connection with the case on May 6.

The arrest was made after the domestic help of Sanjiv Lal reportedly confessed about being a caretaker of the cash recovered from the premises linked to Lal during initial interrogation. Both Sanjiv and Jehangir was booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Bank officials along with the counting machine, were called to count the cash recovered from the flat of the household with the help of Sanjiv Lal during a raid by the economic intelligence agency on May 6.

The ED officials during the raid had also seized documents from the spot, along with a whopping cash of 32 crores. The recovery of Rs 3 crore was made from a separate location.

The raids conducted by the ED officials on May 6 pertains to an ongoing investigation related to the case involving Virendra K Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development department.

Virendra Ram was arrested by ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of government schemes in February last year. Later on, five more individuals were also arrested in connection with the alleged irregularities. Notably, the ED has also conducted raids on a number of locations, including premises linked to builders in the State’s capital, Ranchi, on May 7.