RANCHI/KOLKATA: Income Tax raids continued at the Ranchi residence of Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu for the sixth consecutive day on Monday, with taxmen widening their net at the residence of former Indian Football Association secretary Utpal Ganguly over his alleged association with a foreign manufacturing entity.
Speculation is rife that the raid at Ganguly’s residence at Dhakuria in south Kolkata has some links to the recovery of more than Rs 350 crore from a distillery unit in Odisha tied to the MP. Sources in Ranchi claimed that the total recovery of notes amounted to Rs 465 crore. They also revealed that the notes were parked at Bolangir office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies and were meant to be used post-polls in Chhattisgarh in expectation of a hung Assembly.
After continuous searches for the fifth consecutive day, Rs 354 crore was recovered from the premises reportedly belonging to Dheeraj Sahu in Jharkhand and Odisha. The money recovered from there was packed in 176 large bags to carry them to the SBI’s local branch for counting. Raids are being conducted at Sahu’s Ranchi residence with IT sleuths reportedly recovering three bags along with important documents. IT sources claimed the three bags contained jewelry.
The MP is a resident of Lohardaga in Jharkhand, and is an old Congress leader who began his political career as a student leader in 1977. In Kolkata, sources said Ganguly was under the scanner after “evidence” of fund defalcation surfaced and taxmen visited his house on several occasions.
The officials, accompanied by the personnel of the CRPF, arrived at Ganguly’s residence at Dhakuria in south Kolkata around 7 am on Monday and continued examining documents till Monday night. Ganguly was the secretary of the IFA for three consecutive terms. He resigned in 2019 and since then, concentrated on his business linked to a foreign liquor entity.