ED summons Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam over ₹35 crore cash recovery

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday summoned Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam for questioning, a week after the agency recovered ₹35.23 crore cash from different locations related to his officer on special duty (OSD), Sanjeev Lal.

Alam has been called for questioning on May 14 at Ranchi zonal office, said people familiar with the matter.

Alam and senior congress party leaders including state president Rajesh Thakur and working president Bandhu Tirkey could not be contacted for comment.

However, a congress party leader close to Alam requesting anonymity said that the timing chosen for the issuance of summon was not proper.

“The summon has been issued a day before the first phase of election in Jharkhand and this is not fair. When the Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to participate in the election, ED issued summons to a Jharkhand minister during election time,” the leader said.

On May 6, ED recovered ₹35.20 crore from Lal, his servant Jahangir Alam and a contractor from Deendayal Nagar, Gadikhana based Sayed Apartment and PeyPey Compound based Tejaswani Apartment.

Lal, however, distanced himself from the incident. Replying to a media query, he said that before working as his OSD, Lal had earlier worked for two BJP ministers and he was with him only to get work experience.

A civil court lawyer familiar with the matter said that the probe agency must have got something from Lal and his servant Jahagir Alam that prompted it to issue summons to the minister.

“After recovery of cash in large amounts Lal and his servant Jahangir Alam were produced before PMLA court on May 7, from where they were sent to judicial custody. Next day ED took them in its six-day remand following a PMLA court order. They will remain there till May 13. During the custodial interrogation, they must have revealed something that prompted ED to issue a summons,” the lawyer said.