NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department’s raid on an Odisha-based distillery group and its associated entities is set to turn up a staggering Rs 290 crore in “unaccounted” cash, making it a record-breaking haul by any agency in a single operation, official sources told PTI on Saturday.
About 40 large and small currency-counting machines are being used to sort through the cash and more department and bank staffers have been deployed to finish the counting process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd and others.
The notes are largely of the Rs 500 denomination.
More vehicles have also been requisitioned by the department to transport the seized cash to government banks in the state.
A premises linked to Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, were also covered as part of the searches.
This is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency as part of an action against a single group and its linked entities, the sources said.

Almost Rs 230 crore in cash was seized from about 8-10 almirahs kept on a premises of the company in Bolangir district, while the rest was recovered from locations in Titlagarh, Sambalpur and Ranchi.

The searches were launched after the taxman got “actionable intelligence” of a huge amount of “out of book” sales and cash being remitted by liquor distributors, sellers and business groups.
BJP lashes out at Congress
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took note of the raid and posted on X on Friday that “Countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest ‘speeches’ of their leaders … Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”

The ruling BJD in Odisha also welcomed the tax raids.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday hit out at the Congress, saying the grand old party has made the entire economy of this country “hollow”.
“The raid has been going on for the last three days, he is a senior Congress MP. As per the information I had, Rs 290 crore cash has been counted, 8 lockers are yet to open, and 10 rooms are yet to open. If this number goes upto Rs 500 crore, I won’t be surprised. Rs 500 crore in cash only, then the property could be of Rs 1,000 crore. Congress has made the entire economy of this country hollow,” the BJP MP said.
Dubey also claimed that the recovered money does not belong to just one person and ‘suspected’ that may be linked to outgoing CM of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, the Jharkhand government or anyone else.
“The recovered money does not belong to one person alone. In the Bharat Jodo Yatra, you might have seen how he (Dhiraj Sahu) participated. Several photos went viral with Rahul Gandhi. This money can belong to Bhupesh Baghel (the former CM of Chhattisgarh) or can belong to the Jharkhand government, but as the PM said on Sunday, ‘every penny will be counted’ and all the corrupt leaders of Congress will go behind bars,” he added.
Meanwhile, BJP workers staged a protest against Sahu over the recovery of the unaccounted money.
(With inputs from agencies)

Watch ‘This money goes to Gandhi family’: BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia after over crores seized from Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu’s premises