Odisha cash haul: Congress says party in 'no way connected with businesses of Sahu'

The Congress on Saturday (December 9) distanced itself from its Jharkhand Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu after the recovery of a huge amount of cash from a liquor company linked to him.

"The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties," AICC general secretary Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

The Income Tax department recovered over Rs 225 crore cash during a series of raids on an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned.

Taking to X, the Prime Minister said, "The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest speeches' of their leaders ..Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi's guarantee." The prime minister also tagged a Hindi newspaper where the cash recovered by the IT department was shown stacked.

The seizure of cash from some premises linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu in Income Tax department raids shows how the grand old party has kept the tradition of corruption alive generation after generation, the BJP said on Saturday.

A huge pile of cash has been recovered so far in the searches conducted by the Income Tax department against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and entities linked to it. Premises linked to Sahu were also covered as part of the searches, according to officials.

The seizure amount 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 Saturday.

At a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party leader and Union minister Meenakashi Lekhi said, "The cash seized from Sahu is the biggest haul of cash that has been seized from corrupt persons so far. This shows how the Congress has spread corruption generation after generation and the tradition of corruption has been kept alive." "Rs 300 crore recovered from just one Congress leader and counting is still on. Imagine if all the corrupt leaders of Congress are kept together, how many notes will be recovered," she said.

BJP's Jharkhand unit president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi has also demanded the arrest of Congress Rajya Sabha MP.

(With agency inputs)