Rs 100 cr illegal funds detected after raids on 2 Jharkhand MLAs

New Delhi, November 8

The Income Tax Department has detected “unaccounted” transactions and investments worth more than Rs 100 crore following raids on the premises of two Jharkhand Congress MLAs and their associates, the CBDT said today.

In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said 50 premises in Ranchi, Godda, Bermo, Dumka, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa in Jharkhand, Patna (Bihar), Gurugram (Haryana) and Kolkata (West Bengal) were covered during the searches launched on November 4.

The two MLAs, on the day the searches were initiated, were identified by the officials as Kumar Jaimangal, alias Anup Singh, and Pradip Yadav. Jaimangal, a legislator from Bermo, spoke to reporters outside his Ranchi residence on the day of the raids saying he was extending all cooperation to the raiding teams. Yadav, who joined the Congress after splitting from the JVM-P, represents Poriyahat seat. The Congress is a partner in the JMM-led ruling alliance in the state, led by CM Hemant Soren. Interestingly, Jaimangal had in August lodged a police complaint against three MLAs of his party, including Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari, alleging that they were plotting to topple the ruling UPA government in Jharkhand. The complaint was filed after the three Congress MLAs were arrested with cash in West Bengal in July.

The CBDT said the action was taken against a “few business groups engaged in coal trading and transportation, execution of civil contracts, extraction of iron ore and production of sponge iron. “Those searched include two politically exposed persons and their associates,” the CBDT, which is the policy-making body for the I-T Department, said in the statement.

It said cash worth more than Rs 2 crore had been seized.