Who is Alamgir Alam, the Jharkhand minister linked to the ED raid in Ranchi?

The ED has recovered more than ₹20 crore so far at the premises of a domestic help allegedly linked to the secretary of Alamgir Alam.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said that it had recovered a huge amount of "unaccounted" cash during searches at the premises of a domestic help allegedly linked to the secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam in Ranchi.

Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam during an election campaign rally in Ranchi on May 6. (PTI)

According to ANI, ED has recovered more than ₹20 crore so far. The videos of raids shared on social media showed wads of currency notes in a room allegedly belonging to the domestic help.

The Enforcement Directorate is conducting raids at multiple locations in Ranchi in connection with a related to Virendra K. Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department. He was arrested in February 2023 in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes.

Who is Almagir Alam?

• Alamgir Alam, a Congress leader, serves as the rural development minister in the Jharkhand government. He is a four-time MLA from the Pakur constituency.
• Born in 1954, he graduated from Bhagalpur University in 1974, according to data from the Association of Democratic Reforms.
• A resident of Sahibganj district, Alam was first elected to the Jharkhand Assembly in 2000. He again won in 2004.

He also served as the Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly in 2006. In 2009, he lost the polls, but registered successive wins in the Jharkhand Assembly elections in 2014 and 2019.

Following the raids at the house of a domestic help allegedly linked to his secretary, Alam has urged patience and restraint in jumping to conclusions.

"Sanjiv Lal is a government employee. He is my personal secretary. Sanjiv Lal has already been a personal secretary of two former ministers. There are several government employees, and we usually appoint personal secretaries based on experience. It is not right to comment on the raids before the ED investigation is completed," Alam said, according to ANI.