Income Tax officials, after conducting raids for two days in Odisha and Jharkhand, are believed to have uncovered approximately ₹290 crore in cash. This substantial cash discovery marks the “highest-ever” black money haul in a single operation by any agency.
The tax agency has brought in more department and bank workers, as well as deployed around 40 large and small machinery to aid in the counting process. Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd and other entities were the targets of the searches.
In addition to searching the buildings owned by the liquor manufacturing company, the IT department also searched the offices of Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, the Congress MP for Jharkhand. Neither the Congress MP nor the distillery group have responded officially as of yet. The cash counting is anticipated to be completed by the end of Saturday. Tax officials are currently recording statements from company officials and other concerned parties.
The IT department had already confiscated another ₹250 crore in cash, bringing the total amount of unaccounted cash that has been taken to approximately ₹290 crore. The majority of the cash that was found was in ₹500 notes.
The amount of cash recovered from the IT raid is the largest confiscation ever carried out by any Indian agency. Authorities recovered about ₹230 crore in cash from 8–10 almirahs at one of the company’s locations in the Bolangir area alone. The remainder was taken from places in Ranchi, Sambalpur, and Titlagarh.
Based on actionable intelligence about large-scale “out of book” sales and financial remittances by booze wholesalers, merchants, and business organisations, the raids were started. PM Modi has reassured the public that the looted funds will be restored.
The Odisha unit of the BJP has called for a CBI probe regarding this matter and asked for clarification from the ruling BJD. BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra highlighted the active support of local leaders and the state government in this alleged tax evasion, emphasising its impossibility without such backing.
