Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], May 6 : Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Congress leader Alamgir Alam urged patience and restraint in jumping to conclusions after an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid that uncovered over Rs 20 crore from the residence of a household help linked to Sanjiv Lal, the personal secretary to minister Alamgir Alam.
"Sanjiv Lal is a government employee. He is my personal secretary. Sanjiv Lal has already been a personal secretary of two former ministers. There are several government employees and we usually appoint personal secretary based on experience. It is not right to comment on the raids before the ED investigation is completed," Alam said.
Earlier in the day, the agency recovered more than Rs 20 crore from the household help of Sanjiv Lal - Personal Secretary to Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Senior Congress leader from the state, Alamgir Alam. The counting is still going on and the raid in different locations is still underway.
Following the initial discovery of cash, officials had to bring in a counting machine to manage the large sum.
The raids are part of an ongoing investigation related to the case involving Virendra K. Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, who was arrested in February 2023 in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of government schemes.
In 2019, a huge amount of cash was recovered from one of his subordinates. Later, the ED took over the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
ED arrested Virendra K Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, in February 2023 in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes.
In addition to the raid at the residence of Sanjiv Lal's household help, the ED has also carried out searches at other locations in Ranchi.
One such location is the residence of Vikas Kumar, an engineer in the Road Construction Department.