In a breakthrough for the Income Tax Department, IT sleuths on Friday recovered over Rs 250 crore in cash from premises linked to Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. The Income Tax Department carried out raids against an Odisha-based distillery group and entities linked to it. As per reports, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP has come under the IT radar after the agency recovered a huge amount of 'unaccounted' cash. Notably, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu raid video is doing rounds on social media and people are in utter shock after witnessing such a huge amount of cash being recovered from a sitting MP of Rajya Sabha.
Talking about the IT Raid at Dhiraj Prasad Sahu's premises, reports suggest that the probe agency deployed around three dozen counting machines but since machines are of a limited capacity, the counting is progressing at a slow pace. Not only this, the IT Sleuths had to use multiple sacks to seize the money recovered from the Congress MP's premises.
A newswire quoted IT official present at the raid saying that cash amounting to Rs 200 crore, stashed in almirahs, was recovered from the premises of the distillery group in Balangir district. On the other hand, the remaining amount was found from other locations, such as Sambalpur and Sundargarh in Odisha, Bokaro and Ranchi in Jharkhand and Kolkata.
Now, the question arises who is Dhiraj Prasad Sahu and what are the charges against him? Below is what we know about the Congress leader-
As per reports, Baldev Sahu Infra Pvt Ltd company which is a group company of Boudh Distilleries is linked to Congress leader Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. Dhiraj Prasad Sahu has been a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand since 2010. For the unversed, the Congress MP is a businessman and his family has long been associated with the grand old party.
Dhiraj Prasad Sahu was born on 23 November 1955 in Ranch. His father's name is Rai Saheb Baldev Sahu and mother's name is Sushila Devi. Dhiraj has been a Rajya Sabha MP three times. At first, he became Rajya Sabha MP in 2009. In July 2010, he was once again elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the third time in May 2018.
Dhiraj's father Rai Saheb Baldev Sahu was from Chhotanagpur in undivided Bihar and had taken part in the freedom struggle. Dhiraj himself entered politics in 1977. He was involved in the Lohardaga District Youth Congress. His brother Shiv Prasad Sahu was a Lok Sabha MP from Ranchi twice on Congress ticket. He has studied BA from Marwari College, Ranchi, and lives in Lohardaga, Jharkhand.
As per reports, the affidavit filed by Dhiraj Sahu in the process of being elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2018, the Congress MP had declared his assets as Rs 34.83 crore. He also claimed to have movable assets worth Rs 2.04 crore.