State Bank of India (SBI) officials in Bolangir, in western Odisha, have been busy counting cash for the last three days. The cash was seized during income tax raids on an Odisha-based distillery group.

The raids are being carried out on the multiple branches of a distillery company which belongs to a liquor baron of Western Odisha.

This is being described as one of the biggest cash seizures in Odisha. The income-tax department is yet to come out with an official release about the amount of money seized so far. Unofficial sources reveal that the money seized by the income sleuths must have touched Rs 250 crore. Cash loaded in bags and sacks was sent to the SBI on a truck. The SBI remained tightlipped on the issue. The IT department on Friday also recovered 156 bags of cash during the raid at Sudapada in Bolangir.

The raids are being conducted on the liquor baron’s properties including the houses and country liquor distillery manufacturing units at various places in Sundergarh, Rayagada, Boudh and Titlagarh.

The raids followed charges of evading taxes and sale of county liquor without maintaining bills and vouchers, causing huge losses to the state exchequer.

The raids were going on at different places in Jharkhand and Bengal too, sources said.

The company was on the IT department’s suspicion list, after consistently showing low net profits during the last three years. While the raids are underway, political mudslinging has started between the BJD and the BJP accusing each other of supporting the liquor baron.

Bankers held

Two employees of the Central Bank of India were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police from Keonjhar and Bhubaneswar on Thursday for allegedly making fraudulent transactions that caused a loss of Rs 3.33 crore, officials said on Friday, reports PTI.

It was alleged that between September 2015 and November 2018, the two accused persons made fraudulent transactions in respect of 68 Central Kisan Credit Cards and 24 term loan accounts, besides illegal diversion of government subsidy, causing a loss of Rs 3.33 crore to the bank.

During that time, they were posted as the branch manager and agricultural finance officer of the Bhadreswar branch of the bank in Cuttack district.

The branch manager has already been dismissed by the bank, officials said.