Jharkhand: Jailed Congress leader and Minister, Alamgir Alam relieved of portfolios

In an important development in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Champai Soren has taken over the departments previously under the jailed Congress leader and Rural Development Minister of the state, Alamgir Alam.

Alam has been relieved of all the departments, including Rural Development Department, Parliamentary Affairs, Rural Works Department, and Panchayati Raj Department.

The responsibility of all these departments has now been assumed by the Chief Minister, Champai Soren, who informed the state government via a notification.

It is assumed that the decision to relieve Alam from all the departments previously managed by him has been taken in view of ensuring smooth continuation of works under these departments.

Notably, Alamgir Alam has been in jail since May 15 after he was apprehended by the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the agency.

The Rural Development Minister in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led coalition government from Congress quota, however, he did not tender his resignation even after his arrest. Additionally, the Congress party has also not sought any explanation or initiated any disciplinary action against the jailed minister, maintaining the status quo since the latter’s arrest.

Now, after taking over of the portfolios from Alam it is speculated that he could also be sacked from the minister’s post in coming days.

Alleged Tender Commission Scam

Notably, the ED is probing a money laundering case linked to illegal generation of crores of rupees as commission money for managing tenders issued to separate companies from the Jharkhand Rural Development Ministry.

The agency after arresting Alamgir Alam, his Personal Secretary (PS), Sanjiv Lal and Lal’s housekeeper Jehangir, had submitted before the court that Alam had a share of 1.5 per cent in the illegal money generated as a commission money for managing tenders allotted by the Rural Development Department.

The agency had further claimed that crores of rupees as commission money were also paid to a close aide of Alamgir in September 2022 by an assistant engineer of the department.

The central agency had also claimed that the money (around 37 crore) recovered from the premises linked to Lal’s house help Jehangir is linked to the Jharkhand minister.

ED submission before the court comes on the heels of sleuths of agency carrying out raids on a number of locations, including the premises linked to Alamgir Alam PS, Sanjiv Lal, and his domestic help Jahangir, in connection with the case on May 6.

The agency during the raids had seized important documents and letters linked to Rural Development department alongside recovering a huge cash haul of from Jehangir’s Ranchi based flat following which both Sanjiv and Jehangir were apprehended by the ED under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Alamgir Alam’s arrest

Alam was first summoned by ED to appear before its zonal office in Jharkhand’s capital on May 14 where the officials grilled him for hours. Following the enquiry, he was asked to re-appear before the agency leading to his arrest on May 15.

Days after Alam’s arrest, ED submitted evidences linked to alleged Tender Commission Scam before the court stating that Alam used to collect a cut money for the tenders allocated by the department.

The agency had further claimed to unearth a diary according to which the Congress leader had earned around Rs1.23 crores through illegal commission in the month of January this year alone. The amount was collected as a cut money from several companies after issuing them letter of acceptance of concerned tenders.

ED had further alleged that a number of staff of the department were part of the nexus through which crores of rupees were collected and distributed on commission basis.

It is noteworthy that the case stems from a probe launched by the premier agency linked to alleged irregularities in implementation of some government schemes. The agency had also made arrests linked to the case in the past including arrest of Virendra K Ram in February last year. Ram was working as a chief engineer at the Rural Development department.

A number of government officials are also reported to be on radar of the agency which has recently grilled Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official, Manish Ranjan in connection with the case.