As the Income Tax department raids against an Odisha-based distillery firm ended early Friday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dhiraj Sahu said the money has nothing to do with the Congress or any other political party as is being claimed, and that all of the cash seized does not belong to him, but to his family and other related companies.
In his first reaction to the 10-day I-T searches and recovery of over Rs 350 crore in cash, Sahu, while speaking to news agency ANI, admitted that the money recovered was related to his liquor firms and the proceedings from the sale of liquor. He added that he will give account for everything.
“…What is happening today makes me sad. I can admit that the money that has been recovered belongs to my firm… The cash that has been recovered is related to my liquor firms, it is the proceedings from the sale of liquor… This money has nothing to do with Congress or any other political party as is being said…The money is not all mine, it belongs to my family and other related firms…I-T has raided now, I will give account for everything..,” he told ANI.
On the BJP’s allegation of the cash being black money, Sahu said it was for the Income Tax department to decide if it is “black money or white money.”
The total amount of cash seized during the I-T department’s searches at multiple properties in Odisha linked to Baldeo Sahu and Group of Companies Ltd, a distillery firm run by family members of Dhiraj Sahu exceeded Rs 350 crore.
According to sources in the I-T department, this is the highest-ever cash seizure by an agency in a single operation. The counting of the seized currency notes took five days and concluded on Sunday.
The seized cash was taken in bags for counting to three SBI branches — in Balangir, Sambalpur and Titlagarh. The maximum 176 bags filled with cash were taken to SBI’s Balangir branch, where additional manpower had to be deployed for counting the notes.
The searches against the firm and its linked entities were launched last week on December 6, and around 30 places linked to Baldeo Sahu and Group of Companies Ltd have been raided since then.
Highlighting the raids, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had posted a newspaper clipping with photos of a large amount of currency notes allegedly recovered during the raids.
Taking a dig at Congress leaders, Modi wrote: “The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest ‘speeches’ of their leaders… Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”
Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had slammed the Opposition parties, particularly its INDIA bloc, for remaining silent on the cash seizure.“Since Independence, never has such a large amount of cash been seized from an MP’s house,” he told ANI.
“Hundreds of crores of rupees have been recovered but the whole INDI alliance is silent on this. We understand the silence of Congress as corruption in their nature but parties like TMC, JD (U), RJD, DMK and SP are sitting silent,” he said.
Sahu’s company has been in country liquor manufacturing and selling business in Odisha since 1994-95 and has continued operations by renewing it every year.
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First published on: 15-12-2023 at 23:06 IST
