3 Jharkhand Congress MLAs arrested after cash haul in Howrah

Howrah (WB), July 31 (PTI): Three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were arrested on Sunday in West Bengal’s Howrah district after a huge amount of cash was recovered from their vehicle, a senior police officer said.

An amount of Rs 49 lakh in cash was recovered from their SUV, which was intercepted on National Highway-16 at Ranihati in the Panchla police station area on Saturday evening, he said.

MLAs Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal Kongari, and two other persons, including their driver, were arrested after they failed to answer the police as to why they were carrying such a huge amount of cash, he added.

“They could not state the reason for carrying such a huge amount of cash. We are not satisfied by their claim that they came here to purchase sarees meant to be distributed among tribal women. We have arrested them for further investigation,” the officer told PTI.

The state CID has taken over the investigation from the Howrah Rural Police, he said.

The five persons, including the MLAs, have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that for criminal conspiracy, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, he said.

The arrests were made after the MLAs were questioned throughout the night, the officer said.

The Congress has alleged that the BJP was trying to topple its coalition government with Hemant Soren’s JMM in Jharkhand with the help of these MLAs. Each MLA was allegedly being offered Rs 10 crore in cash and a ministerial berth if the BJP forms government in the state.

The BJP has rubbished the allegations, claiming that the Congress was defaming it to hide corruption within the party.