Bhubaneswar : Seizure of unbelievably huge amounts of cash by the IT officials following raids against the liquor business being run by the family of Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dhiraj Sahu has triggered a political earthquake in the state. Though Sahu is an MP from neighbouring Jharkhand the main concentration of his family’s liquor business is in Odisha, especially the western part of the state where Mahua-based country liquor is extremely popular.
The IT officials, who began searches on December 6, are said to have recovered around Rs.350 crore in cash, following raids at several locations in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. These are states where the Sahu family has been running its liquor business successfully. The raids lasted around six days with the biggest cash recoveries being made from Bolangir, Sambalpur, Sundergarh and Bhubaneswar in Odisha where the Sahu family dominates the country liquor trade.
This is being described as the biggest cash recovery in the history of the IT department in a single operation. So huge was the recovery that it took nearly 50 bank officials assisted by 40 counting machines to count the seized cash. Sahu family run BDPL group is said to have a virtual monopoly of country liquor manufacturing and marketing business in Odisha with control over 250 country liquor units in the western parts of the state where mahua-based liquor is quite popular.
Sources said that raids against the group began on December 6 on the suspicion of tax evasion but the cash recovery was mind-boggling. Though the IT department is yet to come out with a detailed official statement sources said the raids commenced after suspicion was allegedly aroused by the group’s inconsistent and low net profits. Major cash recoveries were made from Sudapada area of Balangir town. Recoveries were also made from Sambalpur and Sundargarh, among others. Some of the seized currency notes were covered with mildew as they had obviously been stored for a long time. Several bundles of Rs. 500 denomination notes were found torn in the middle and dumped near the boundary wall of Boudh Distillery Private Limited.
The recovery had triggered the political blame game. While the Congress, which has refused to defend Sahu, wants a fair probe into the issue the BJP alleges that Congress and the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are hands in glove and the seized money would have helped the regional party in the elections.
A senior BJP leader went to the extent of saying that the bulk of the recovered cash was deliberately hidden in a backward district like Bolangir to avoid arousing suspicion. The cash would have been used by the BJD which was planning early elections in the state. The charge, though, has been trashed by the BJD which describes it as the figment of BJP’s imagination.
While the BJD has demanded a thorough probe into the issue the Congress insists that the probe has to be impartial to bring out the whole truth. The party has no faith in agencies like ED, CBI or even the income tax department for they all are run by the state government.
Sources said Sahu family, which has been in liquor business for a long time, owns the BDPL group which consists of four companies including Boudh Distillery Private Limited which is based in western Odisha’s Boudh district and Baldeo Sahu Infra Private Limited which is based in Bolangir. The business is said to have been established by late Rai Saheb Baldeo Sahu, father of Dhiraj Sahu. Today the group has country liquor and IMFL shops all over Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
Sources said that the group dominates country liquor manufacturing and marketing business in Odisha with control over most of the country liquor units in the western parts of the state where mahua-based liquor has been consumed in bulk. The Boudh Distillery Private Ltd (BDPL) has the near monopoly of country liquor business not only in Odisha but also in neighbouring states like Jharkhand. It also supplies the huge volumes of spirits for manufacturing Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in Odisha.
The group accounts for about 80 per cent sale of the spirit in Odisha and provides the material to bottling plants in Berhampur, Khurda, Cuttack, Sambalpur and Rayagada. Sources said while BDPL Group’s Boudh Distillery Private Limited is involved in manufacturing extra neutral alcohol (ENA) and its other subsidiaries are engaged in sale and marketing of IMFL brands.
The issue has also brought Odisha’s excise policy into focus with allegations flying thick and fast that it is not being implemented properly and allows big players to run things the way they want to. Political observers feel that while tremors of the raids would be felt for some more time, it also gives an opportunity to the state government to revisit its excise policy.