Congress minister Alamgir Alam distances himself from Rs 30 crore cash

New Delhi: Congress leader and Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam on Monday distanced himself from his personal secretary Sanjeev Lal after ED seized more than Rs 30 crore in cash from the house of the servant of Sanjeev Lal.

The Rural Development Minister in the Jharkhand government said, "Sanjeev Lal is a government employee, he is my personal secretary, Sanjeev Lal has already been the personal secretary of two former ministers, and also there are many government employees and we generally appoint private secretaries on the basis of experience. It is not right to comment on the raid before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation is completed."

It is pertinent to note that Alam's name had come up during the investigation of a money laundering case. 

It was revealed during the investigation of a bribery case of Rs 10,000. Actually, ED had raided the house of the Chief Engineer last year in connection with a bribe of Rs 10,000.

During interrogation after this raid, the Chief Engineer had told that this bribe money was sent to a minister. That is when Alam's name came up for the first time in this matter. 

As the investigation progressed, the role of Alam's personal secretary Sanjeev Lal also came to light. When the agency started investigating Sanjeev Lal, a huge amount of cash was recovered from the servant working in his house.

Videos and photos shared by the sources showed officials of the central probe agency taking out wads of currency notes from large bags in a room. Some central force security personnel were also seen.

Alam (70), is a Congress leader and represents the Pakur seat in the Jharkhand assembly.

Earlier, Dhiraj Sahu, Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, was in the news in December last year after the Income Tax department seized Rs 351.8 crore in cash during raids on the premises linked to Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt. Ltd, promoted by his family.