IT raids against Odisha distillery group linked to Congress MP intensify; 20 more bagloads of cash recovered
Bhubaneswar: The Income Tax (I-T) Department on Saturday intensified its crackdown on a liquor distillery group in Odisha recovering another 20 baglodads of cash from the residence of the group's manufacturer.
The raids continued a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured people that "money looted from the public will be returned".
Here are the key points in this big story:
- After recovering around Rs 225 crore till Friday, the I-T sleuths seized another 20 bagloads of cash from the house of a countrymade liquor manufacturer in Sudapara area of Bolangir district on Saturday. The amount of money recovered from Sudapara is being counted, an official said, adding it is expected to be over Rs 50 crore.
- I-T sleuths had on Friday taken 156 cash-loaded bags to the SBI main branch at Bolangir for counting. The seizure of "unaccounted" cash in raids against the distillery group and its linked entities is expected to reach Rs 290 crore, making it the "highest-ever" black money haul by any agency in a single operation.
- After conducting raids on manufacturing units and premises of stakeholders associated with Baldeo Sahu and Group of Companies, one of the biggest countrymade liquor manufacturers in western Odisha, the agency is now targeting offices and residences of all the persons linked to this group.
- The company is allegedly linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dhiraj Sahu, whose family members run the business. I-T DG Sanjay Bahadur, who has been camping in Bhubaneswar for the last three days, however, refused to divulge details on the ongoing raids. "Our people are working on it," he told reporters on Saturday.
- While 150 officials were taking part in raids on the liquor distillery group, the I-T department has also engaged another 20 officials from Hyderabad for verification of digital documents recovered from different places during the raids. The seized money was being counted at two SBI branches at Sambalpur and Bolangir.
- Counting of the cash, mostly in Rs 500 denomination notes, has become a herculean task and machines have developed glitches due to the heavy load. Note-counting machines have also been brought from various banks to streamline the process.
- The raids were conducted in Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bolangir, Sundargarh and Bhubaneswar. PM Modi, while sharing a news report on the raids, said in a post on X: "Countrymen should look at these piles of currency notes and then hear the speeches of its (Congress) leaders on honesty. Every penny looted from people will have to be returned. This is Modi's guarantee."
- The ruling BJD in Odisha in a statement welcomed the tax raids. "Jharkhand BJP leaders are saying the seized money belongs to Congress leaders. On the other hand, Congress leaders are saying it belongs to BJP leaders. Both are blaming the other. It seems like both BJP and Congress leaders had stashed their money with this businessman," it said.
- Opposition BJP questioned Odisha chief minister's silence on the issue. "How can Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik remain silent over such a shameful event taking place in Odisha? The IT officials have seized huge amounts of black money just under the nose of the CM," Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal said.
- Targeting the BJD government, the BJP state president alleged that the leaders of the regional party in Odisha were providing protection to the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, whose family was involved in the liquor trade and stashing black money.
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