Jharkhand news: Arrested minister Alamgir Alam remanded to 6-day ED custody

livemint.com:

Alamgir Alam, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case, was remanded to the ED custody for six days, said lawyers on Thursday. The minister was produced before a PMLA court in Ranchi earlier today amid tight security arrangements. Alam was arrested after a six-hour interrogation by the federal agency at their office in the city on Wednesday.

He was also questioned on Tuesday for over nine hours and his statement was recorded. This came days after recovery of a huge amount of cash from the household help of his personal secretary Sanjeev Lal. On May 7, the investigative body confiscated approximately ₹36.75 crore during its searches and subsequently arrested Sanjeev Lal along with his domestic aide Jahangir Alam.

The ED disclosed to a special PMLA court in Ranchi that Lal was gathering 'commission' on behalf of certain influential individuals and government officials. Of the seized cash, the agency retrieved ₹32.20 crore from a flat in Ranchi, where Jahangir Alam was residing, and approximately ₹3 crore from another site, including ₹10.05 lakh from Lal's residence. Additionally, on May 8, it recovered ₹1.5 crore from a contractor's premises.

It took the agency over 12 hours to complete the counting process, employing six counting machines for the task. Furthermore, the central agency asserted that officials at all levels, from top to bottom, were allegedly implicated in an illegal cash payment nexus. However, Alam who is currently representing the Pakur seat in the Jharkhand assembly distanced himself from the matter, saying that people had known him for 25-30 years and that his image was "not that of a corrupt person." "Elections are going on.