RANCHI:
Enforcement Directorate
(ED) Wednesday arrested
Congress minister
Alamgir Alam, 74, in Jharkhand after interrogating him for two days since Tuesday in connection with the alleged corruption in his department and associated money laundering, making him the first sitting minister in the state's history to be arrested, report Jaideep Deogharia & Sanjay Sahay.
Alam was under ED radar after sleuths unearthed Rs 37 crore in cash during raids.
Alam’s arrest is ‘political vendetta’, say JMM, Cong
In charge of the rural development department in the Champai Soren cabinet, Congress minister Alamgir Alam was under ED radar after sleuths unearthed Rs 37 crore in cash during raids, majority of which was found from the office and residence of the minister’s personal secretary and his aide.
Alam, who was summoned by ED, arrived at the agency’s office in Hinoo area here at noon. His interrogation continued for six hours, before he was formally arrested.
ED sleuths had interrogated Alam for around nine hours at his office on Tuesday. He was summoned again on Wednesday, after he refused to cooperate in the probe.
Meanwhile, the Congress-JMM coalition in Jharkhand has decided not to ask the minister to step down, calling the action “political vendetta” and carried out by ED “on directions of its political masters”.
English (US) ·