The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Alamgir Alam, the Minister for Rural Development in Jharkhand, in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to the seizure of more than ₹35 crore in cash from an apartment related to his personal secretary and the secretary's domestic assistant.

The Congress leader was summoned by the ED to appear at its zonal office in Ranchi to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Mr Alam was questioned for over nine hours at the Enforcement Directorate office in Ranchi on Tuesday and he was called again on Wednesday. He was interrogated for six hours and was arrested for not cooperating with the investigation, ED sources said.

The money laundering investigation pertains to alleged irregularities in the state's rural development department.

Last week, the agency raided a 2BHK apartment in Ranchi occupied by Jehangir Alam, the house help of the minister's Personal Secretary, Sanjiv Lal. They recovered ₹35.23 crore from this location and an additional sum of over ₹1.5 crore from other places, bringing the total seized amount to ₹37 crore.

Both Sanjiv Lal, PS to Alam, and his domestic help, Jahangir Alam, were arrested by the ED after the raids.

Seven teams from the agency started raids at 6 am on Monday morning. According to ED officials, the majority of the recoveries were made from Jahangir Alam's residence near Ranchi Hill.

The searches continued into the evening, and multiple cash-counting machines had to be pressed into service.

“Elections are going on. ED is investigating the matter. Being the minister of the department, they can interrogate me. I do not want to say anything about this. People are understanding everything,” Alamgir Alam had told news agency ANI.

The ED said that the names of "senior bureaucrats and politicians" have emerged in the case and this was being investigated, PTI reported.

The agency also conducted searches at the rural development ministry in Ranchi, with Lal accompanying the ED officials during the operation.

The 70-year-old Congress leader was first elected to the Jharkhand Assembly in 2000 and has also served as its Speaker. His arrest comes months after Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren was taken into custody by the ED in the land scam case. Mr Soren had resigned as the chief minister just before he was officially arrested.

Image source: Hindustan Times