HC rejects bail plea of Alamgir Alam
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Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court on Friday dismissed the bail plea of former state rural development minister Alamgir Alam. Alam has been made an accused by the ED for his involvement in a tender scam running into several crores of rupees.
The court of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad has earlier heard the matter at length and had reserved the order. The order was pronounced by the judge on Friday in court.
Alam, then rural development minister in the cabinet of chief minister Champai Soren in 2024, had to resign from his office due to his involvement in facilitating tenders of the department to contractors and receiving kickbacks for the same.
Alam came in the line of fire after rural development department chief engineer Virendra Ram was arrested by the ED for his involvement in money laundering.
Investigation revealed that Alam had provided tenders to selected companies and received commissions for facilitating tenders. Virender Ram's operations in embezzlement of funds were caught by the ED sleuths who traced his link to Alam.
The minister was also summoned by the ED officials to face interrogations. Alam represented Pakur for four times before he was taken into custody on May 15 last year.
Investigation and raids were conducted in the residence and offices of Alam and his aides by the ED.
Such raids also revealed accumulation of cash amounting to Rs 32 crore from the house of one Jahangir Alam, a domestic help of the minister's secretary Sanjeev Lal.
The presence of huge amount of cash from the house of a domestic help and interrogation turned the heat on Alamgir Alam. The high court after having heard the arguments of the parties rejected the bail application filed by the former minister.
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