The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has mounted an attack on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in Odisha over the seizure of huge amounts of cash from liquor traders and manufacturers by the Income Tax Department.
BJP alleged that the conch party is fighting elections with the black money sourced from liquor mafias. The party will hold protests in front of every sub-division across the state against the alleged black money transaction today.
Taking to ‘X’ saffron party’s Odisha chief, Manmohan Samal said, “In Odisha, the income tax department raided the liquor business run by a Congress MP which was encouraged by the BJD government. The department seized a huge amount of cash which shocked the entire Odisha. The excise policy of the state government is responsible for the way the liquor mafia has flourished in Odisha. The State government is providing undue benefits to the liquor mafia and BJD is fighting elections with that black money. Not only that, the state government has created a liquor flood in Odisha in the interests of the liquor mafia.”
“The BJP will hold protests against the liquor corruption and black money trade of the BJD government in front of all the subdivisions of the state,” Samal wrote.
Meanwhile, the counting of cash seized during I-T raids on the properties linked to a liquor trader at Sudapada in Bolangir district ended on Sunday night and the total value of the seized cash was reported to be around Rs 284 crore.
The raids were first conducted on December 6 and the I-T officials stumbled upon huge amounts of cash stashed in the Sudpada distillery unit in Bolangir district.
The cash in 165 bags was taken to a nearby SBI branch for counting. Later, huge amounts of cash were also seized from the country liquor manufacturing units at Titilagarh and Sambalpur. The seized cash was taken to the Sambalpur SBI branch in two vans.
While the counting at Titilagarh ended at Rs 11 crore, the value of notes seized from Baldeo Sahu & Sons at Sambalpur was Rs 37.5 crore.