Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into a money laundering case, was on Thursday remanded to the custody of the central agency for six days.
The minister was produced before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi amid tight security arrangements.
Seeking 10 days’ remand of Alam, whom the ED arrested yesterday, the ED said the whole process of collection and distribution of commission was taken care of by the assistant engineers posted at the Rural Development Special Division and Rural Works Department. The ED pleaded that it want to find out the nexus in the commission of money arguing that Minister Alamgir Alam used to receive a share of 1.5 per cent of the all allocated tender amount.
The ED said that several officials from top to bottom of the Rural Development Department are involved in this nexus and the huge payments were usually received in cash which were later laundered and needed to be unearthed.
The central agency said that the role of Alamgir Alam is found to be crucial and pivotal in the ongoing investigation based on the statements of witnesses and material collected.
“Alamgir Alam has concealed facts and was involved in the acquisition and transfer of the proceeds of crime, and thus actively involved in the process of money laundering,” it added.
The agency concluded that Alam has integrated a huge amount of proceeds of crime into the mainstream economy.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested state minister and Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam in a money laundering case, days after the agency seized Rs 34.50 crore from two people linked to him.
Alam's arrest comes a day after he was grilled for over nine hours by the central probe agency at its zonal headquarters in Ranchi.
Alam was summoned by ED and was called to appear before central probe agency office on May 14 (Tuesday). Alam was interrogated by ED for more than nine hours and on Wednesday he was again called by central probe agency.
He was summoned by the agency after the ED arrested his personal secretary Sanjiv Lal and Lal’s domestic help Jehangir.
Alam, who is the state’s Minister of Rural Development, had distanced himself from the Rs 34.50 crore in cash seized from Jehangir’s premise.
On May 6, the Enforcement Directorate raided the apartment of Jahangir Alam, who is the house help of Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary Sanjeev Lal, and recovered over Rs 37 crore in cash. Both Alam and Lal were arrested after the raid.
The raids were in connection with an ongoing investigation into a money laundering case against Virendra K Ram, former chief engineer of the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, who was arrested last year. It was linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes in the department.
During the raid, several counting machines were also brought in to count the unaccounted cash, which was mainly in the denomination of Rs 500. In addition, agency officials also recovered some jewellery from the flat of Jahangir Alam.
