On Thursday (December 7), the Income Tax Department conducted raids at Boudh Distilleries Private Limited (BDPL) in Odisha and Jharkhand. The raiding team has confiscated a huge cache of currency notes from the premises linked to the company in question. Reports say that Boudh Distilleries Pvt Ltd. is linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu. According to a Prabhat Khabar report, cash exceeding Rs 100 crore has been seized, however, authorities have not confirmed the same.
According to an OdishaTV report, more than Rs 150 crore in cash was confiscated during raids at the Bolangir office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies, one of the largest country-liquor manufacturing and selling firms in western Odisha. Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies is reported to be the partnership firm of Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd. Reports say that the companies in question were concealing business activities to evade taxes. The Income Tax officials also raided the residence of Ashok Kumar Agarwal, a businessman from Purunakatak for his alleged links with the company.
The police have recovered an almirah with currency notes. The counting of notes is still in progress. ANI reported that the counting of notes up to Rs 50 crore was completed yesterday, however, the counting machines stopped working since the number of notes was huge. On Wednesday (6 December), searches were carried out at five different locations, including Ranchi and Lohardaga residences of Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu. Other than the Sushila Niketan residence on Radium Road in Ranchi, raids were also carried out in Odisha’s Bolangir, Sambalpur, and Kalahandi.
OTV reported that in Bolangir, the IT personnel ran out of bags to carry the seized cash. Hence empty sacks were brought in to load the bundles of cash. As the machines stopped working on Wednesday, over 150 bags and sacks full of money were brought to the SBI branch in Bolangir where they were awaiting to be counted.
In addition to Boudh Distilleries, the Income Tax Department searched the offices of Ramchandra Rungta, a renowned businessman in Jharkhand. Since this morning, the Income Tax Department has been raiding his homes and businesses in Ramgarh, Ranchi, and other locations. According to reports, a raid is underway at various locations in linked to Rungta in Ramgarh and Ranchi. CRPF personnel are providing security to the Income Tax officials. Officials are also present at Ramchandra Rungta’s residential office, close to the Punjab National Bank in Ramgarh.
As per the information available on BDPL’s website, BDPL Group, headquartered in Odisha, has various business divisions such as Baldeo Sahu Infra Private Limited (fly ash bricks), Kwality Bottlers Pvt Ltd (IMFL bottling), and Kishore Prasad Bijay Prasad Beverages Pvt Ltd (IMFL brand sales and marketing).