ED seizes over Rs 35 cr, arrests Jharkhand Minister's personal secretary & servant

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) After recovering over Rs 35 crore in cash, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sanjeev Kumar Lal, the personal secretary (PS) of Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam and his servant Jahangir Alam on Tuesday morning, an official said.

Meanwhile, sources said that the financial probe agency is preparing to question Congress Minister Alamgir Alam about this. He will soon be summoned by the agency.

On Monday, the ED conducted a raid at the residences of Alamgir Alam's PS and other close associates. The counting of seized currency notes continued late at night and a total of Rs 35.23 cr has been recovered so far.

According to officials, Jahangir Alam admitted in preliminary questioning that he was a caretaker of "commission and bribe-acquired money", for which he received a salary of around Rs 15,000 per month.

“It was Minister Alamgir who had employed Jahangir as a servant at his PS Sanjeev Kumar Lal's residence. Before this, for a few days, he had also worked at the minister's residence,” said the sources.

Sanjeev Kumar Lal had rented a flat in Sir Syed Residence Apartments in Ranchi for him. “Sanjeev used to give him a bag or a bundle of money every one or two days, which he used to keep in the cupboards of this flat,” said the sources.

The ED has also seized Rs 10 lakh from Sanjeev's residence and Rs 2.93 crore from the residence of his wife's construction company partner builder Munna Singh.

However, Sanjeev initially denied that the money received from Jahangir's flat belonged to him, but after solid evidence and Jahangir's statement, the agency arrested him.

During the raid on Monday, the ED also seized several documents, including records related to the transfer-posting of bureaucrats.

These documents also mention the recommendation made by Jharkhand Pradesh Congress President Rajesh Thakur for the posting of bureaucrats. In addition, a letter written by the state's Chief Secretary to register an FIR regarding irregularities in the Rural Development Department, received by the ED, was also there.

It is believed that instead of taking action on the ED's letter, the government leaked it to the department's officials.