New Delhi: Raids at business premises allegedly linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu has led to recovery of cash amounting to more than Rs 351 crore and jewellery worth more than Rs 2.80 crore, the Income Tax (I-T) Department said in a statement Thursday.
Detailing the nature of seizure, the I-T department said that of the total cash recovered, Rs 329 crore was recovered from “obscure & dilapidated buildings, hidden chambers and hidden safe-house camouflaged as an unoccupied / nondescript residence located in small towns of Odisha including Sudapada and Titlagarh in Bolangir District and Khetrajrajpur in Sambalpur district”.
Explaining the scope of the raids, the department said that it raided 30 premises across 10 districts in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Although the I-T department has not named Dhiraj Sahu or any member of his extended family, it said the entire operation is being “controlled by a Ranchi-based family” which includes one “politically exposed” member.
The department also said early analysis of seized “incriminating” evidence suggests that the business group benefited massively from unaccounted sale of country liquor and maintained “systematic details” of undisclosed cash and “references for movement of unaccounted cash”.
“This operation covered more than 30 premises spread across 10 districts in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The business of the group is controlled by a family based in Ranchi, Jharkhand. One of the family members of the group is also a politically exposed person residing at Ranchi,” the I-T department said in its statement.
It added that employees associated with the business have allegedly admitted that the seized unaccounted cash belonged to the owners.
The department claimed that one family member working “actively” with the business “corroborated” the evidence seized in raids.
“Preliminary analysis of seized evidence reveals records of unaccounted sales of country liquor, systematic details of undisclosed cash receipts and references for movement of unaccounted cash. The main employees looking after the business activities of the group, have admitted that the cash found and seized during the search operation, represents the unaccounted income of the group, generated through its multiple business concerns. This was also corroborated by one of the family members who is actively involved in the business,” the department said in its statement.
ThePrint had reported earlier from Balangir and Sambalpur on the opaque ownership structure of Sahu’s family business and the scale of unaccounted sale of country liquor in western Odisha.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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