The counting of notes recovered after the  IT  raid on the heads of MP Dheeraj Sahu continued for the fourth day. The total cash recovered was  Rs 300 crore. The counting of notes is likely to be completed on Sunday.

Income Tax officials raided the premises of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu on Wednesday (December 6).  In this raid conducted especially in Odisha and Jharkhand, the IT    Department claimed to have recovered a huge amount of cash of Rs 300  crore. After the raid 4 days ago, the currency notes continued on Saturday  (December 9)  in the heads connected to Sahu. Officials said the counting of notes is not over yet.  Due to the continuous policy of cash kept in the racks of the shelves in the premises, the amount has increased to  300 crores. They say this will be the largest recovery of black money in a single operation by any agency.

Why couldn’t the entire cash be counted?:  According to  HT’s report, SBI  ‘s regional manager said that due to the opening of the bank,  the entire staff was not engaged in cash counting. Bank manager Bhagat Behera told news agency ANI that the counting of notes is expected to be completed by Sunday with more deployment of machines and manpower.

Congress Party kept its distance from Sahu: On the other hand,  the Congress has come on the defensive over such a huge amount of money recovered from the MP’s heads. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has clarified that he will answer how IT is recovering such a huge amount from his bases. The Congress party has nothing to do with his business.

The BJP has completely attacked the Congress on this matter. BJP leaders shared a photo of Dhiraj Sahu with Rahul Gandhi and demanded the party break its silence on this issue.

All the events so far about Dheeraj Sahu at a glance

• The   I-T department is conducting raids at the premises of an Odisha-based liquor manufacturing group in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal,  which is linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu.
• Dhiraj Sahu has been a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand since 2010. His son Ritesh Sahu is also the managing director of Joki Boudh Distillery Private Limited Company. She is also on the IT radar. Dheeraj Sahu’s elder brother Uday Shankar Prasad is the chairman of the company.
• Sahu’s company manufactures raw materials such as extra-neutral alcohol for making alcoholic beverages.
• The company is in partnership with Baldev Sahu and Group of Companies, which are accused of tax evasion.
• These notes include a large consignment of ₹ 500  notes, which were banned in  2016 due to demonetization. It appears that these notes were stored for a long time, some of which also got moldy.
• BJP workers also protested outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi against the alleged corruption of the Congress. West  Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and MLA Vijender Gupta were also prominent in the protest.