Jharkhand unit of the BJP on Saturday claimed that "over Rs 300 crore cash" allegedly recovered from various premises of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Kumar Sahu during Income-Tax raids in the state and neighbouring Odisha was meant for "horse trading and resort politics" in case there was a hung House in Chhattisgarh.
Accusing the Congress and INDIA alliance of corruption, BJP MLA and former Jharkhand minister CP Singh accompanied by Jamshedpur BJP MP Bidyut Baran Mahato said the recovery of money from Congress party leaders was "not a surprise" but seizure of such a huge amount was certainly surprising.
"We have information from reliable sources that the money looted from Jharkhand government was meant to be handed over to top Congress party leaders in Delhi but IT officials seized it from various premises of the Congress MP," Singh alleged.
He added that the money was meant for horse trading and resort politics had there been a hung house in Chhattisgarh.
Singh demanded the Enforcement Directorate to probe into the case.
"Today, the opposition parties were coming together to protect their political future and families," he alleged, adding that the INDIA bloc was an alliance of the "corrupt".
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it clear that whoever looted people's money will have to return every pie.
Mahato said corruption and loot was embedded in the Congress whereas the BJP was committed to ensuring "corruption-free Bharat".
The money was looted from Jharkhand and transferred to Odisha considering it to be a safer place, Mahato claimed.
"This corruption was not an ordinary one but needed to be probed thoroughly," Mahato said while demanding arrest of Sahu and his dismissal from Parliament.
The seizure of "unaccounted" cash after the income-tax department raided an Odisha-based distillery group and entities linked to it is expected to reach Rs 290 crore, making it the "highest-ever" black money haul by any agency in a single operation, official sources said.
The tax department has deployed about 40 large and small machines to count the currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited and others, the sources said.
Sahu's staff expressed their inability to get a comment from the MP when PTI called on his phone for a reaction to the I-T department's action.
An e-mail sent by PTI to the distillery group also elicited no response.
Cash amounting to more than Rs 250 crore has been seized till now and the money is continuously being deposited in government bank branches in Odisha, the sources said. Most of the currency notes are of Rs 500 denomination.
This is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency in the country as part of an action against a single group and its linked entities, the sources said.
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