Following the cash grab, the ED arrests the Jharkhand minister’s secretary and domestic help

After recovering more than Rs 32 crore in cash from them, the Enforcement Directorate detained Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary Sanjiv Lal and the latter’s domestic assistant on Tuesday, according to official sources.

After being questioned throughout the course of the night, the two have been placed under arrest in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to the sources.

A 2BHK apartment in the city purportedly inhabited by Lal’s domestic assistant Jehangir was searched by the ED on Monday, they added. The raid was part of an ongoing money laundering probe into purported anomalies in the state rural development department.

Aside from the Rs 3 crore it had taken from some other locations the central agency had inspected, it had retrieved nearly Rs 32 crore in cash.

The sources said that the entire amount of cash recovered was Rs 35.23 crore.

Alam, a Congress lawmaker and minister for rural development in Jharkhand, has denied any misconduct on his behalf.