New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet and also attached assets worth more than Rs 4 crore of former Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam, his ex personal secretary and the aide’s domestic help as part of a money laundering investigation.

In a statement on Saturday, the federal agency said it has issued a provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on July 4 against Alamgir Alam, his former PS Sanjeev Kumar Lal, Lal’s wife Reeta Lal and his domestic help Jahangir Alam.

The cumulative value of all these assets recorded under the attachment is Rs 4.42 crore, it said.

A chargesheet against these accused, except Reeta Lal, was also filed before a special PMLA court in Ranchi on Thursday, the agency said.

Alamgir Alam, a Congress politician and former rural development minister, apart from Lal and Jahangir Alam were arrested by the ED in this case.

The ED had raided Sanjeev Kumar Lal and Jahangir Alam on May 6 and recovered a total Rs 32.2 crore from a flat in the name of the latter. The total cash seizure of cash in this case is Rs 37.55 crore apart from a four-wheeler and two-wheeled vehicle each, jewellery and digital devices.

The agency had said the probe pertains to alleged irregularities in the state rural development department that was once headed by Alamgir Alam.

Probe found, the ED claimed, that a “commission of 3.2 per cent of the total tender value is taken from the contractors for tender allocation which is distributed in a mechanised manner from top to bottom in the rural works department, government of Jharkhand which also includes the commission of around 1.5 per cent for the minister (former) Alamgir Alam.” 

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Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the seizure of over Rs 35 crore in cash from a flat linked to his personal secretary and the latter’s house help. 

Mr Alam was questioned for over nine hours at the Enforcement Directorate office in Ranchi on Tuesday and he was called again on Wednesday. He was interrogated for six hours and was arrested for not cooperating with the investigation, ED sources said. 

The agency had raided a 2BHK flat in Ranchi occupied by Jehangir Alam, a house help of the minister’s Personal Secretary Sanjiv Lal, last week and recovered Rs 35.23 crore from there and an additional over Rs 1.5 crore from other premises. A total of Rs 37 crore was seized. 

Mr Lal and Jehangir Alam were arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) the next day and are currently in ED’s custody. 

The case against Mr Alam and his aide is related to the alleged Jharkhand tender scam, under which commissions were collected and then distributed under Mr Lal’s supervision. 

The 70-year-old Congress leader was first elected to the Jharkhand Assembly in 2000 and has also served as its Speaker. His arrest comes months after Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren was taken into custody by the ED in the land scam case. Mr Soren had resigned as the chief minister just before he was officially arrested.