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'To buy sarees for tribal festival': J'khand Cong MLAs on ₹49 lakh cash seized
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the BJP of trying to topple its coalition government in Jharkhand, claiming that the 'Operation Lotus' was exposed.
The three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand who were caught with huge amount of cash in West Bengal's Howrah on Saturday claimed that the money was kept to buy sarees for distribution purposes at a tribal festival, according to an official familiar with the matter. Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari were travelling with two other persons in an SUV, which carried a board mentioning "MLA Jamtara Jharkhand" along with the Congress' election symbol, when the police intercepted their vehicle on national highway-16 at Ranihati in Howrah. The police recovered ₹49 lakh in cash from the vehicle. (Also Read | Congress alleges 'Operation Lotus' as 3 J'khand MLAs caught with cash in Bengal)
During the questioning, the MLAs said they had planned to buy the sarees from Kolkata's wholesale market at Burrabazar where rates are reasonable, the police officer cited above said. The MLAs further claimed they had planned to visit Burrabazar on Monday after spending a day at Mandarmani, a popular beach in East Midnapore district.
The MLAs are still at the police station at Panchla in Howrah.
"We had specific inputs that a huge amount of money was being transported in a black car. We started checking the vehicles and intercepted this SUV in which three Jharkhand MLAs were travelling. A huge amount of cash was found in the vehicle," Howrah Superintendent of Police (Rural) Swati Bhangalia had said.
"Cash counting machines are being brought in to ascertain the total amount. The MLAs are also being questioned about the source of the money and where it was being taken to," she added.
The Congress alleged that the BJP was trying to topple its coalition government in Jharkhand, claiming that the 'Operation Lotus' was exposed.
"The BJP's 'Operation Lotus' in Jharkhand stands exposed tonight in Howrah. The game plan of 'Hum Do' in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.
The Jharkhand Congress also claimed that the huge amount of cash was part of BJP's conspiracy to topple the Hemant Soren government.
