The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made significant allegations involving Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam, claiming the ₹32.2 crore in cash seized from a domestic aide's residence in Ranchi is connected to him, with a fixed commission rate of 1.5% from every tender in his department.
When the central agency presented the 74-year-old Congress leader Alam in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court presided over by Judge Prabhat Kumar Sharma, they sought his remand following his arrest by the agency the previous day. The court has remanded him to six days of ED custody. On May 6th, the ED had raided Alam's personal secretary Sanjeev Kumar Lal and his domestic aide Jahangir Alam, recovering a total of 32.2 crore rupees from an apartment registered in their names. So far, 37.5 crore rupees in cash have been seized in this case.
All cash linked to Alamgir Alam, ED tells court
In request for Alam's remand, the ED informed the court, "It has been determined that the cash seized from the apartment registered under Jahangir Alam's name is related to Alamgir Alam and collected upon the directions of Sanjeev Kumar Lal, who was doing so for Alamgir Alam."
The ED mentioned that the presence of several official documents on 'letterhead' in Sanjeev Kumar Lal's possession indicates that the premises were used to store documents, records, cash, and other items associated with Alamgir.
PA Lal managed tenders
'He (Lal) played a crucial role in managing tenders and collecting commissions from engineers, also mechanically distributing the said percentage of commission to senior government officials,' it was revealed, '...many officials from the top to the bottom of the Rural Development Department were involved in this collusive scheme with most payments usually being in cash, subsequently whitened, warranting disclosure.'
The agency also noted that last year, they had arrested former chief engineer of the Rural Development Department, Virender Kumar Ram. 'Ram collected commissions on tenders awarded and execution of work,' the ED informed the court, '...a 1.5% share of the said commission was distributed to minister Alamgir Alam.' It was also found that in one instance, Alamgir Alam had received a commission of 3 crore rupees as his share, sent by an assistant engineer in September 2022. The ED further claimed that Alamgir Alam was actively involved in 'receiving the proceeds of crime, concealing it,' thus participating in money laundering activities.
Money laundering case from September 2020 is based on a case from the corruption prevention wing of Jharkhand police (Jamshedpur) and an FIR by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi police against Virender Kumar Ram and others in March 2023.
