Currency notes in bundles stashed in an almirah have been recently recovered in one of the biggest raids by the Income Tax Department for which even three dozen counting machines fell short. The raids conducted at Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL) and entities linked to it in Odisha and Jharkhand have been linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu. The counting of the "unaccounted cash" for the December 6 raid, however, is still underway, IT officials said.

In the backdrop of the case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday hit out at the Congress party over income tax raids at its MP Dhiraj Sahu's premises in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, saying that the grand old party has made the entire economy of this country "hollow".

"The raid has been going on for the last three days, he is a senior Congress MP only. As per the information I had till morning, Rs 290 crore cash has been counted, 8 lockers are yet to open, and 10 rooms are yet to open. If this number goes up to Rs 500 crores, I won't be surprised. Rs 500 crores in cash only, then the property could be of Rs 1000 crores...some documents are recovered. Congress has made the entire economy of this country hollow..." the BJP MP said.

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At least over 250 crores in hard cash so far have been recovered during raids. In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tagged a news report about the IT department recovering Rs 200 crore in cash from various locations of a business group allegedly linked to Sahu, as he attacked the opposition party.

Who Is Dhiraj Sahu? What Is His Link With The IT Raids?

The Congress leader has been an MP in the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand since 2010. Dhiraj Sahu who is a business man has been associated with the grand old party for a long time. Sahu's brother Shiv Prasad Sahu is a former Parliament member. Sahu's family has been associated with the Congress since Independence.

The raids were conducted at Bolangir and Sambalpur in Odisha and Ranchi and Lohardaga in Jharkhand, according to Income Tax officials.

On Saturday, BJP workers staged a protest against Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu over the recovery of unaccounted money. BJP's Jharkhand unit president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi has also demanded the arrest of the Rajya Sabha MP and said that an "FIR should be lodged against him".

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