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Dhiraj Sahu I-T raid: Cash haul reaches ₹353 cr; MP's old tweet viral
BJP leaders shared old tweets of Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu where he questioned demonetisation and wondered how people still had black money after note ban.
The amount of unaccounted cash found from premises linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu reached ₹353 crore on Sunday as the counting finally came to an end while the issue snowballed into a major political controversy because of the involvement of the Congress MP. The income tax department raided the premises on Wednesday and found stacks of notes kept in almirah racks. The counting began but could not be finished in a day or two as the SBI branch where the notes were being counted had its normal operations too. The counting could be completed by the weekend, the staff said earlier.
The I-T raids were at the premises of Boudh Distilleries Private Limited across Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Neither the MP nor the company has issued any statement so far. The Congress said the party has no involvement in the MP's business and he should explain this huge amount of cash.
Over ₹350 crore, 176 bags of cash, 3 banks, 40 machines
The counting created a spectacle as this became the largest cash haul in a single operation in the country. The SBI branch where the counting took place received 176 bags full of cash. Three banks were roped in for the counting process. 40 currency counting machines were brought in. Initially, there was a shortage of machines as the ones in the counting operation gave in.
The counting involved nine teams of about 80 people from the tax department and various banks and they worked 24X7 in shifts. After 10 cash-stuffed almirahs were found, another team of 200 officials, including security personnel, drivers and other staff, joined in.
'Notebandi ke baad bhi': Congress MP's old tweet viral, 'Dark sense of humour': Amit Malviya
BJP's Amit Malviya shared a screenshot of Dhiraj Sahu's old tweet in which he exclaimed how there still was so much black money in the country even after demonetisation. "Dhiraj Prasad Sahu has a dark sense of humour," Malviya tweeed.
"I feel pained seeing so much corruption and black money in the country even after noteban. This is beyond my understanding how people can accumulate so much of black money. Only Congress can uproot corruption from the party," Dhiraj Prasad Sahu tweeted in 2022.
"Imagine how much one Congress MP has looted that it takes almost an army of personnel to count the loot. Now multiply it with Congress’ 60 years of power & 1000s of MPs. It runs into tens of thousands of crores. Congress is corruption ki beemari! The disease of corruption," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday spoke about the issue as he questioned the silence of the INDIA parties like SP, DMK, JDU. "It can be now understood as to why the allegation against the Modi government that it is misusing investigation agencies was made.It was because of the fear that their corruption will be exposed," Amit Shah said. PM Modi too earlier commented on the massive cash haul and said it is PM Modi's guarantee that every penny has to be returned to the public.
