Rs 32-crore seizure, ED summons Jharkhand minister on May 14
Ranchi, May 12
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Congress leader Alamgir Alam for questioning in a money laundering case on May 14, official sources said.
The agency had last week arrested Alam’s personal secretary and state administrative service officer Sanjeev Kumar Lal (52) and the latter’s domestic help Jahangir Alam (42) following the seizure of more than Rs 32 crore from a flat linked to them.
Alam, 70, has been asked to depose at the zonal office of the ED in Ranchi on Tuesday for recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. The investigation pertains to alleged irregularities and payment of “bribes” in the state rural development department.
The agency had informed a special PMLA court here, while seeking the remand of the two arrested persons, that Lal collected “commission” on behalf of some influential people and government officials from “top to bottom” in the rural department were involved in the alleged illegal cash payments nexus.
The total seizure of cash by the ED in this case has been recorded at Rs 36.75 crore as the agency seized about Rs 3 crore from other locations, including Rs 10.05 lakh from Lal’s place, apart from Rs 1.5 crore from a contractor’s place last Tuesday.
