Veep's “Invent Machine” Dig Amid Huge Cash Haul Involving Congress MP

New Delhi:

Raids against an Odisha-based distillery company, owned by a Congress MP’s family, have not just yielded a staggering cash seizure of over Rs 353 crore but also a funny remark by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar. 

The Vice President, speaking at the 43rd convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad yesterday, asked the students to invent a machine that would enable tax officials to count massive amounts of currency notes quickly. Fifty bank officials equipped with 40 counting machines tirelessly went through five days of counting to reach Rs 353.5 crore. 

The raids were conducted at premises linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places.

“I urge all of you, let’s invent a machine that can count currency notes at a fast rate,” Vice President Dhankar said at the event, in a clear reference to the recent cash seizures.

“I urge all of you… Let’s invent a machine that can count currency notes at a fast rate.”

– Vice-President to the students of IIT Dhanbad @IITISM_DHANBADpic.twitter.com/mhTo8Jr25M

— Vice President of India (@VPIndia) December 11, 2023

“I was looking at the plight of the manager of the bank who said ‘we are counting and counting and counting but tomorrow is a working day so we have to deal with our clientele also’,” he added. “Corruption has no place. Corruption is no longer a means to get favour. Power corridors have been neutralised of corrupt elements.”

Yesterday. the income tax department continued its raid on Boudh Distilleries Private Limited, expanding its scope to include Baldev Sahu Infra Pvt Ltd, a company allegedly linked to Mr Sahu’s family. 

The department suspects that the massive cache of cash unearthed during raids on Boudh Distilleries and associated entities represents unaccounted income generated from the sale of country liquor.