ED raids Jharkhand Rural Development Department premises, seizes documents

ED raided Jharkhand's Rural Development Department over a money laundering investigation. The raid was prompted by questioning former minister Alamgir Alam's staff, who revealed involvement of government officials in illegal payments. Over Rs 30 crore was seized from searches conducted earlier. The ED claims senior bureaucrats and politicians are involved and suspects a "commission" system for influential people. The investigation stems from an anti-corruption case and an FIR by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing.

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided the premises of the Jharkhand rural development department in Ranchi as part of a money laundering investigation in which it recently seized huge cash, the official sources said.

The raids are being undertaken on the inputs gathered from the questioning of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam's personal secretary Sanjeev Lal and the latter's domestic help Jehangir Alam.

Both were arrested by the central agency on Monday. It has claimed to have seized more than Rs 30 crore cash from the premises of Jahangir Alam apart from some other cash during searches conducted on May 6.

Lal, 52, collected ''commission'' on behalf of some influential people, the ED had claimed before a court here on Tuesday, adding that the government officials from ''top to bottom'' of the rural development department are involved in the alleged illegal cash payments nexus.

The ED claimed the names of ''senior bureaucrats and politicians'' have emerged in the case and this is being investigated.

The money laundering case of September, 2020 is based on an anti-corruption branch (Jamshedpur) case of Jharkhand Police and a March 2023 FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police against former chief engineer of the state rural works department Veerendra Kumar Ram and some others.

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