The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested state minister and Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam in a money laundering case, days after the agency seized Rs 34.50 crore from two people linked to him.
Alam's arrest comes a day after he was grilled for over nine hours by the central probe agency at its zonal headquarters in Ranchi.
Alam was summoned by ED and was called to appear before the central probe agency office on May 14 (Tuesday). Alam was interrogated by ED for more than nine hours and on Wednesday he was again called by the central probe agency.
He was summoned by the agency after the ED arrested his personal secretary Sanjiv Lal and Lal’s domestic help Jehangir.
Alam, who is the state’s Minister of Rural Development, had distanced himself from the Rs 34.50 crore in the cash seizure from Jehangir’s premise.
On May 6, the Enforcement Directorate raided the apartment of Jahangir Alam, who is the house help of Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary Sanjeev Lal, and recovered over Rs 37 crore in cash. Both Alam and Lal were arrested after the raid.
The raids were in connection with an ongoing investigation into a money laundering case against Virendra K Ram, former chief engineer of the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, who was arrested last year. It was linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes in the department.
During the raid, several counting machines were also brought in to count the unaccounted cash, which was mainly in the denomination of Rs 500. In addition, agency officials also recovered some jewellery from the flat of Jahangir Alam.
Sources said that even Alam was not aware that ED will arrest him as on Tuesday Alam talking to mediapersons outside the ED office said, “I abide by laws... I am here to face questioning.”
After ED's seizure, Alamgir Alam Alamgir Alam had distanced himself saying, people have known him for 25-30 years now and his image is "not that of a corrupt person". He also claimed that the allegations have been levelled against him to "malign" his image.
"Elections are going on. ED is investigating the matter. Being the minister of the department, they can interrogate me. I do not want to say anything about this. People understand everything," Alam said to media persons.
“One more wicket of corruption has fallen in Jharkhand today...this was supposed to happen. From a servant's house, ₹35 crore has been seized...this is just the beginning...now it is impossible for those in high positions to get away with corruption,"said BJP spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo.
