So far the State Bank of India’s Sambalpur and Bolangir branches have counted over Rs 50 crore of the money seized during I-T raids, informed Sambalpur deputy general manager (DGM) Manmohan Swain informed this on Saturday.
Informing about the ongoing counting, he said, “Though I can’t say the exact amount, I can say around Rs 50 crore has so far been counted. And the counting is still going on. Yesterday, nine note-counting machines and 11 staff were engaged. Today, we have sourced around 15 note-counting machines from different places including Bhubaneswar. And today the number of staff engaged for note counting has been increased to 21.”
“The counting is going on at Bolangir branch and Sambalpur main branch. The counting is expected to finish today or tomorrow. Once the counting is finished, we can say the exact amount of the notes counted. However, the counting at Bolangir branch has finished and the total amount of the money counted at the branch is Rs 11 crore,” he added.
There was no duplicate or Rs 2000 Indian currency note in the counted money at the Titlagarh branch. There were only Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 Indian currency notes, he said.
Similarly, regional manager of SBI’s Bolangir branch Bhagat Behera said the counting was underway and the employees were called in on Saturday despite it being a holiday.
“Yesterday we had engaged nine machines. Today, we have added more machines. A total of 25 machines are engaged in note counting. And 40 to 50 staff are also engaged. We expect the counting will finish in two days,” said Behera.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has targeted Jharkhand’s Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu after his alleged link was surfaced. The saffron party burnt the effigy of MP Sahu at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
“During I-T raids, Rs 300 crore in cash was seized from the business premises linked to Congress MP and his relatives. Rahul Gandhiji, what type of ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ is it? Congress party is the idol of corruption,” said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia too took a potshot at the Congress. “The seized money belongs to the poor people of India which is being looted by the Congress party and its leaders. The Prime Minister has taken a vow to bring back every penny of the poor’s money and we will punish such corrupt people."