Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Jharkhand’s Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam in connection with a multi-crore tender scam. The arrest comes amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the state.
According to a senior ED official, Alam was taken into custody after he failed to cooperate during interrogation over the past two days. He is scheduled to be presented in court tomorrow.
Alam is allegedly one of the ‘influential persons’ for whom his Private Secretary Sanjiv Lal collected commissions to manipulate tender processes. Both Sanjiv Lal and Jehangir Alam, an assistant to the minister and a relative of his daughter-in-law, are already in ED custody.
Alam, who also serves as the Congress legislature party leader in the Jharkhand Assembly and parliamentary affairs minister, was summoned by the ED today after his responses regarding the recovery of over Rs 35 crore did not satisfy the agency.
During the investigation, Sanjiv Lal reportedly revealed names of bureaucrats and politicians involved in the commission collection process. The ED has also questioned Sanjiv Lal’s wife, Rita Lal, regarding her acquisition of numerous immovable properties.
This case is linked to the suspended chief engineer Veerendra Kumar Ram, who was arrested last year for collecting commissions in exchange for tender allocations and work execution. The ED alleges that 1.5% of the commission was distributed among senior officials and politicians.
Alam, a former Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly, has been overseeing the rural development department since 2019.
