IT raids in Odisha expected to unearth ₹290 crore; ‘highest-ever’ black money haul by agency

After raiding at multiple locations for two days in Odisha and Jharkhand, Income Tax sleuths are estimated to have recovered around ₹290 crore. The massive cash recovered from multiple spots has made the ongoing raid the “highest-ever” black money haul by any agency in a single operation, reported PTI citing official sources.

The tax department has deployed about 40 large and small machines to count currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the counting process. The IT department began raids against Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd and others.

Apart from this, more vehicles have been requisitioned by the department to transport the seized cash to government banks in the state. Apart from different properties of the liquor manufacturing firm, the premises of a Congress' Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, were also raided by the IT department, sources told the news agency.

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Till now, there has been no official statement by the distillery group or the Congress MP. Currently, tax officials are recording the statements of various company officials and other persons involved, the counting of cash is also expected to be finished by Saturday's end.

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The total seizure of unaccounted cash is expected to reach around 290 crore, reported the news agency.

Till now, the IT department has seized around ₹250 crore in cash and the black money is continuously being deposited in government bank branches in Odisha. The notes are largely of the ₹500 denomination.

Highest-ever cash seizure by any agency in India

The cash recovered from the IT raid is the highest-ever cash seizure made by any agency in India. From one of the premises of the company in Bolangir district, IT officials have recovered around ₹230 crore cash from about 8-10 almirahs. The rest of the money was recovered from locations in Titlagarh, Sambalpur, and Ranchi, sources told PTI.

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The IT raids began after the taxman got “actionable intelligence” of a huge amount of “out of book” sales and cash remitted by liquor distributors, sellers, and business groups.

The massive corruption scandal was also mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. In his latest post on X, formerly Twitter, PM Modi said, “Countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest 'speeches' of their leaders….Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi's guarantee.”: