Dhiraj Sahu IT raids: Recovery amount crosses ₹300 crore; BJP slams Rahul Gandhi says, ‘Why are you silent now?’
- Currency counting machines were brought in as the IT department raid on the premises of Boudh Distilleries Private Limited entered its 5th day on Sunday. CISF personnel were also deployed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over recent Income Tax raids on the entities linked to Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu in Jharkhand and Odisha. The seizure of unaccounted cash in an Income Tax department raid that started on December 6 on Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Private Limited and others has now reached ₹300 crore and is expected to exceed ₹350 crore, a report by Hindustan Times has stated.
The episode has provided fresh ammunition to the BJP which is leaving no stone unturned to attack the Congress over the incident.
Citing a news report, BJP chief JP Nadda took to X and wrote, “Brother, both you and your leader Rahul Gandhi will have to answer. This is the new India, here people will not be allowed to be exploited in the name of the royal family. You will get tired running, but the law will not leave you. If Congress is the guarantee of corruption then Modi ji is the guarantee of action against corruption, every penny looted from the public will have to be returned.”
Questioning Gandhi, Union minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy also spoke on I-T searches against Congress' Dhiraj Sahu and said, “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi why is he silent on I-T searches against Dhiraj Sahu? You always criticise the Income Tax Department but why are you silent now?”
BJP MP K Laxman said, “I want to ask why Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are quiet on this issue... Where there is a Congress Government, only corruption is there....PM Modi has a vision of zero tolerance against corruption... PM Modi will not leave the corrupts and soon the Congress will be exposed...”
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also criticized the party in response to income tax raids and said, “Congress has to answer when one of its MPs has been raided. They need to tell who this black money belongs to. This is a worrisome matter.”
Union minister Meenakashi Lekhi has said, “The cash seized from Sahu is the biggest haul of cash that has been seized from corrupt persons so far. This shows how the Congress has spread corruption generation after generation and the tradition of corruption has been kept alive. ₹300 crore recovered from just one Congress leader and counting is still on. Imagine if all the corrupt leaders of Congress are kept together, how many notes will be recovered.”
“My question to Rahul is what was a person like him doing in your Bharat Jodo Yatra. He made him MP thrice. My question to Sonia Gandhi is how she allowed this person, who lost twice in Lok Sabha elections, to be elected to Rajya Sabha three times. They have “a lot of things to explain,” she added.
Earlier on Saturday, BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya also targeted Gandhi over the recovery of ₹200 crore in unaccounted cash.
Slamming Gandhi, BJP leader Amit Malviya wrote on X and said, “Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' journey was actually a journey to unite the thieves of India. Congress is the 'Corruption Ki Dukan'. The recovery of nearly ₹300 crore from the locations of Dheeraj Sahu, a Rajya Sabha MP from Congress in Jharkhand, is living proof of this.”
In another post, Malviya said, "Today is International Anti-Corruption Day and it is also the birthday of the owner of 'Corruption Ki Dukan'. This is just a coincidence!"
What did Congress say on Sahu and IT raids?
Congress on Saturday said that the party is in no way connected with the businesses of the former and that the lawmaker from Jharkhand should explain the matter. Taking to social media platform, X, the Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh said that only Dhiraj Sahu can explain the huge amounts of cash, reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties.
Taking to X, Jairam Ramesh wrote, “The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties.”
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Business NewsPoliticsDhiraj Sahu IT raids: Recovery amount crosses ₹300 crore; BJP slams Rahul Gandhi says, ‘Why are you silent now?’
First Published:10 Dec 2023, 02:43 PM IST
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