Odisha I-T Raid: Floor, Lockers Flooded With Cash as Recovery Tops Rs 350 Cr; BJP Slams Cong’s ‘Silence’ – News18

The raids by the Income Tax department against an an Odisha-based distillery company reached its sixth day on Monday. In the “highest-ever” such haul in a single action conducted by any probe agency, as said by official sources, a total cash amount of Rs 351 crore has been seized after five days of counting.

Pictures from the ongoing raid accessed by News18 showed floor covered in cash and even lockers stocked with notes.

The properties subjected under the scanner of the I-T department are linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Kumar Sahu. Additional machines, staff and security personnel were reportedly deployed to accelerate the counting of the seized currency notes which is still underway.

The searches against the Boudh Distillery Private Limited, its promoters and others were launched on December 6 by the taxman on charges of tax evasion and “off-the-book” transactions.  As of now, the company as well as the Congress MP did not respond to the queries put forth by PTI regarding the action being carried out against them.

On Sunday, SBI Regional Manager, Bhagat Behera from Odisha said, “We received 176 bags and 140 of them have been counted, the rest will be counted today. Officials from 3 banks are involved in the counting process, 50 of our officials are involved. About 40 (currency counting) machines were brought here, 25 are in use and 15 are kept as backup.”

Political Leaders React to the Cash Seizure

The recovery of the ‘unaccounted cash’ at the Congress leader’s property led to a political slugfest in the state with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding answers from the Congress.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said crores of rupees have been recovered but the whole INDI alliance is silent on this corruption.

Speaking to ANI, Shah said, “I am very surprised. After independence, such a large amount of cash has been seized from an MP’s house. Crores of rupees have been recovered but the whole INDI alliance is silent on this corruption. I understand Congress is silent as corruption is in their nature but JDU, RJD, DMK, and SP all are sitting silently…Now I understand why a campaign was run against PM Modi that agencies are being misused. It was run because there was a fear in their mind that all the secrets of their corruption would be revealed.”

Taking to X, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also commented on the development. Taking to X on Friday, he said, “Countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest ‘speeches’ of their leaders….Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”

BJP workers held a protest in Bhubaneswar against the recovery of more than Rs 350 crore of unaccounted cash from Congress leader Dhiraj Sahu during Income Tax raids.

Joining the protest against the Odisha I-T raids at Gandhi statue near the Parliament, BJP’s JP Nadda said, “Counting is still on, no one knows where this counting will stop, this is just tip of the iceberg. They always made allegations against our agencies. We want to ask Congress , especially Rahul Gandhi , what he had to say on this money . Why  is Sonia Gandhi silent now?”

Speaking about the raids, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said that this is an ingenuous and outlandish connection that the BJP wants to make with the Congress party. He further said that the Congress has nothing to do with this. “This is BJP propaganda, there is no basis to it,” he added.

On Saturday, Jharkhand unit of the BJP claimed that “over Rs 300 crore cash” that was allegedly recovered from various premises of Congress leader Sahu during the raids in the state and neighbouring Odisha was meant for “horse trading and resort politics”.

About the Raids

The tax department deployed about 40 large and small machines to count the currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited and others, the sources said.

Sources said that 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.

I-T sleuths on Friday seized 156 cash-loaded bags and took them to the SBI main branch at Bolangir for counting. The raids were conducted in Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bolangir, Sundargarh and Bhubaneswar.

(with inputs from agencies)