Over Rs 225 crore cash recovered in IT raids on liquor manufacturers in Odisha, Congress MP under lens

Cash worth more than Rs 225 crore has been recovered so far from several locations linked to Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu in Odisha and Jharkhand.

The Income Tax Department has been conducting raids on Sahu's premises on charges of tax evasion in the neighbouring states since December 6, 2023.

the Income Tax department on Friday found 156 bags of cash during search for the third consecutive day at Sudapada in Bolangir district, also linked to the distillery group, officials said.

From the bags, Rs 25 crore were counted till Friday afternoon, taking the total amount recovered so far to Rs 225 crore.

"Of the 156 bags, only 7/8 were counted and the amount found was Rs 25 crore," an official said.

The raids were carried out at Sambalpur, Bolangir, Titilagarh, Boudh, Sundargarh, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.

Around Rs 200 crore in cash was seized on Thursday during raids at the Bolangir office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies, one of the biggest country-liquor manufacturers in western Odisha.

The raids were conducted at some houses, offices, and distillery at Sargipali in Sundargarh city on Wednesday.

The company is yet to provide any reaction to the raids.