Tax raids related to Congress MP continue, 19 more bags worth Rs 20 crore seized

Even after more than Rs 200 crore of unaccounted cash has been recovered so far, tax raids continued on Saturday at the premises of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu in Odisha and Jharkhand.

In the latest development, Income Tax teams seized around 19 bags of money from the house of a man named Bunty Sahu, who was appointed in-charge of maintenance of liquor factories in the areas in Odisha where the raids were going on.

Sources said the amount recovered from Bunty Sahu’s house is expected to be more than Rs 20 crore as the seized money was being taken to banks in Sudapara in Balangir, Odisha.

A video shows bags full of money being carried inside a bank in Balangir. Meanwhile, unaccounted cash worth about Rs 225 crore has been recovered so far through the searches being conducted by the Income Tax Department against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and its associated entities.

Three dozen counting machines have been deployed by the Income Tax Department. Sources told PTI that since the machines are of limited capacity, the counting is going on at a slow pace.

Officials said Rs 200 crore in cash hidden in cupboards was recovered from the premises of the distillery group in Odisha’s Bolangir district, while the remaining amount was found in other places like Sambalpur and Sundargarh in Odisha, Bokaro and Ranchi in Jharkhand. And Kolkata.