Marandi demands FIR against Congress MP over Rs 225 crore cash recovery

Ranchi: BJP's Jharkhand unit president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi on Friday demanded the arrest of Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, for "unaccounted" cash recovered from his premises.

Unaccounted cash amounting to around Rs 225 crore has been recovered so far through searches being conducted by the Income Tax department against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and entities linked to it, official sources said on Friday.

"An FIR should be lodged against Sahu and he should be arrested," Marandi demanded.

Stressing that such big cash haul is unheard of, he demanded a through probe into the matter and alleged that the cash is linked to top Congress leadership as well as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Three dozen counting machines have been deployed by the IT department. Since the machines are of a limited capacity, the counting is progressing at a slow pace, sources added.

Sahu could not be contacted for his version while his office told PTI that he is not available.

Officials said cash amounting to Rs 200 crore, stashed in almirahs, was recovered from the premises of the distillery group in Bolangir district in Odisha, while the remaining amount was found in other locations such as Sambalpur and Sundargarh in Odisha, Bokaro and Ranchi in Jharkhand and Kolkata.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tagged a news report about the I-T department recovering Rs 200 crore in cash from various locations of a business group allegedly linked to Sahu, as he attacked the opposition party.

"Countrymen should look at these piles of currency notes and then hear the addresses of its (Congress) leaders on honesty. Every penny looted from people will have to be returned. This is Modi's guarantee," he said in a post.