Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam resigns amid money laundering charges

Alamgir Alam resigns as CLP leader. Alam, an MLA from Pakur assembly seat who was serving as a cabinet minister in the Jharkhand government and is currently imprisoned on charges of money laundering, has resigned from his post as the CLP leader.

His son Tanveer Alam said his father handed in his resignation on Saturday, June 8th. The resignation letter was handed over to the chief minister’s office on Monday. When contacted, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur said that Alamgir Alam had resigned from the positions of CLP leader as well as state cabinet minister.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 15 arrested Alamgir Alam after questioning him in connection with money laundering charges. This arrest was made after the ED raided Jahangir Alam house, the housekeeper of Alamgir Alam’s personal secretary, Sanjeev Lal, on May 6, where they recovered over Rs 37 crore in cash. Both Alam and Lal were taken into custody after the raid.

During the investigation, the ED, in a petition to the PMLA court, revealed that Mr. Alam used to earn a 1.5 percent commission for each of the tenders within the departments he was handling. 

The ED contended that Virendra Ram, being the Chief Engineer of the Rural Development Department, who was arrested on 23-03-2023, was the person who used to collect these commissions and then transfer it to the Minister. Several assistant engineers within the department assisted with the collection of the commissions to present them to Mr. Ram.

The ED’s petition also said that the money recovered from the premises associated with Mr. Alam’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and domestic help actually belongs to Mr. Alam. Many documents, government papers, and letters were recovered from the house of the domestic help. The commission payments were done in an orderly manner, right from subordinates to the officials in the organization. Large amounts of cash were also said to have changed hands, and authorities are still working to untangle the full scope of the operation.

Recently, Champai Soren assumed responsibility for the four portfolios previously held by Alamgir Alam—parliamentary affairs, rural development, rural works, and panchayati raj—following Alam’s arrest. 

Criticism from Opposition

BJP spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo criticized Alamgir Alam for not resigning sooner after the ED discovered cash at his house’s residence. He said, “He had crossed every limit of shamelessness. A tender scam of Rs 3,000 crore was unearthed in his department. He was arrested but did not resign. Later, when the BJP raised the issue of the facilities that he was receiving and how taxpayers’ money was getting wasted, he resigned under pressure. He has been exposed.”

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