Congress a money heist script: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a dig at the Congress over Odisha cash haul case and said that the party has been looting the country for 70 years now. He was referring to the seizure of over Rs 300 crore by the I-T department from companies linked to a Congress MP.
The income tax department, in the highest-ever seizure yet, has so far recovered Rs 340 crore from premises linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu.

Of the total cash seized so far, the income-tax department on Monday deposited Rs 284 crore in a State Bank of India branch in Balangir, Rs 37.5 crore in Sambalpur and Rs 11 crore in Titilagarh.
“In India, who needs ‘Money Heist’ fiction, when you have the Congress Party, whose heists are legendary for 70 years and counting!,” PM Modi posted on X while referring to the popular drama series.

The post was shared along with a 1-minute video clip showing the almirahs with recovered cash and pictures of Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with the Jharkhand MP.

Excise authorities on Monday launched a probe into the liquor business linked to the Jharkhand Congress MP. “The quantity was so huge that it filled 156 gunny bags. Around 15 bags had been counted till 5pm on Friday. These had Rs 45 crore. Fifteen money counting machines are being used,” an I-T officer said.

The income tax sleuths also found a locker linked to the Sahu family opened in an Axis bank branch in Titilagarh and took away gold ornaments.

Last week too, the Prime Minister had lashed out at the Congress saying it has exposed the hypocrisy of the opposition party over the issue of corruption.

“The countrymen must first see the bundles of these (currency) notes and then listen to the speeches of honesty being made by their leaders. (They) will have to return every penny that they have looted from the people, this is Modi’s guarantee,” the PM wrote in his post on X tagging a newspaper report that had photographs of almirahs stuffed with cash on the premises of Boudh Distillery Private Limited and Baldev Sahu & Group of companies spread over Odisha, Jharkhand and Bengal.

The BJP has been targeting the Congress and its allies, saying they have spread the’disease of corruption’.

“The Congress and its friends have spread a disease of corruption against which a movement has to be started not just by the government but the people of the country as well,” Union minister Kiren Rijiju said earlier today.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)