The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized a substantial amount of “unaccounted” cash during raids conducted on premises allegedly associated with Sanjiv Lal, the Personal Secretary to Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam.
The agency’s operation yielded approximately Rs 20 crore in cash, recovered from the residence of Sanjiv Lal’s domestic help. Video footage from the raid depicted stacks of currency notes strewn across a room, purportedly belonging to the aide of Alamgir Alam.
These searches were conducted in connection with a money laundering case involving Virendra K Ram, a former chief engineer of the rural development department. Ram, who was apprehended by the ED last year, stands accused of accumulating assets valued at Rs 100 crore. His arrest in February 2023 was linked to alleged irregularities in the execution of certain government schemes.
During the raid, a pen drive containing purported transaction records involving several Jharkhand politicians was confiscated from Ram’s possession.
The incident drew attention from political figures, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubet from Jharkhand’s Godda constituency sharing the video of the ED operation. Dubet’s statement emphasized the magnitude of the cash seizure, portraying it as a decisive action against alleged corruption within the government.
Reacting to the ED’s raids, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary denounced those involved as “lootera” (dacoits), targeting prominent political families like Lalu Prasad Yadav’s and Shibu Soren’s, accusing them of plundering the nation’s resources. Choudhary asserted that such actions by the government would inevitably stir discontent among the accused parties.
