ED Names Eight More in Jharkhand Tender Scam Linked to Ex-Minister Alamgir Alam

Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a fourth supplementary prosecution complaint before the Special PMLA Court in Ranchi, naming eight additional individuals in the Jharkhand tender scam case allegedly connected to former minister Alamgir Alam.

Officials said the fresh complaint, submitted by the Ranchi Zonal Unit on Wednesday, is part of the agency’s continuing probe into a large-scale corruption racket within the state’s Rural Works Department.

According to the ED, the new accused include contractors, close aides, and relatives of officials who “actively participated in the generation, handling, and laundering of proceeds of crime.”

With these additions, the total number of accused in the case has reached 22, the agency said.

The ED arrested Alamgir Alam on May 15 last year in connection with the alleged commission racket involving tenders of the Rural Works Department. The arrest followed a series of raids on May 6 at the premises of Alam’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Sanjeev Lal, his domestic help Jahangir Alam, and several contractors.

During the searches, investigators seized over ?35 crore in cash — including ?30 crore from Jahangir Alam’s house, ?2.93 crore from contractor Munna Singh, and ?2.14 crore from contractor Rajiv Singh.

Investigations have revealed a systematic commission network in government tenders, with a significant share of the kickbacks allegedly routed back to Alamgir Alam.

A senior Congress leader, Alam had served as a cabinet minister in both the Hemant Soren and Champai Soren governments and was the Congress Legislature Party leader in the Assembly. He resigned from his posts following his arrest.

With inputs from IANS