Over £33m cash recovered in income tax raids against firm linked to India opposition MP

Fifty officials from banks along with 40 counting machines and five days of tireless efforts saw the cash being discovered in the eastern state of Odisha.

• Shubham
• 11 December, 2023

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By: Shubham Ghosh

IN an incident marking the single biggest seizure ever made by an investigative agency in India, 50 officials from banks along with 40 counting machines and five days of tireless efforts saw cash worth Rs 353.5 (£33.7 million) crore being discovered from the premises of a parliamentarian from India’s opposition Indian National Congress in the eastern state of Odisha.

The haul shattered all previous records of unearthing cash from an individual.

Premises linked with Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, a member of the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the Indian parliament representing the state of Jharkhand, were covered during the searches conducted by officials of the income-tax department. The cash was seized during raids at various properties in Odisha linked to Baldeo Sahu and Group of Companies Ltd, a distillery firm run by Dhiraj Sahu’s family members.

Read: WATCH: Mysterious man throws cash in air from Bengaluru flyover

You may think this is a Bank’s cash chest but it isn’t. This is the cash haul recovered from Rahul Gandhi’s close aide and Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu…
Congress must answer how much of this money was being sent to Delhi and the Gandhis?#CorruptionKiDukan pic.twitter.com/7QltPuv1XJ

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 10, 2023

Of the total cash haul, Rs 305 crore were found in Balangir district. In Sambalpur in Sambalpur district, Rs 37.5 crore were found.

Read: £1.6m seized in Scots tax cheat case after thousands of cash-filled envelopes found at man’s home

Sources in the income-tax department said all the seized cash will be deposited in the State Bank of India, the country’s biggest public sector bank, in Balangir on Monday (11). Bank officials said operations at the branch where the cash will be deposited will continue to be normal during the process. The cash was found in 176 bags.

“We received 176 bags and 140 of them have been counted, the rest will be counted today. Officials from 3 banks are involved in the counting process, and 50 of our officials are involved. About 40 (currency counting) machines were brought here, 25 are in use and 15 are kept as backup,” Bhagat Behera, an SBI official, as quoted by news agency Asian News International.

Soon after the episode, India’s Bharatiya Janata Party intensified its counter-offensive against the Congress and other opposition parties on Sunday (10). Home minister Amit Shah said the opposition’s allegations that the federal government misuses central agencies against them was mere “propaganda” as they are afraid of being held accountable for their alleged corruption.

He also said the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc of the opposition was silent over the cash haul.

‘Every penny will have to be returned’

On Friday (8), prime minister Narendra Modi shared a Hindi newspaper report about the cash haul on X and said in Hindi, “The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest ‘speeches’ of their leaders…

देशवासी इन नोटों के ढेर को देखें और फिर इनके नेताओं के ईमानदारी के 'भाषणों' को सुनें… ???

जनता से जो लूटा है, उसकी पाई-पाई लौटानी पड़ेगी, यह मोदी की गारंटी है।

❌❌❌? ? ?❌❌❌ pic.twitter.com/O2pEA4QTOj

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2023

“Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”