The Jharkhand High Court today rejected the bail application of former minister Alamgir Alam, who has been behind bars for the past 14 months in connection with a large-scale money laundering case linked to a tender scam. The decision came after the conclusion of hearings on June 26, during which both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Alam's legal team presented their arguments.
The matter was heard by Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, who had reserved his judgement after the hearing. Prior to this, Alam’s bail petition had also been rejected by the Ranchi PMLA court, prompting him to appeal to the High Court.
Alam, a four-time Congress MLA representing Pakur Assembly constituency, was taken into custody on May 15 last year after the ED began probing his alleged role in manipulating tenders and accepting kickbacks.
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The investigation was launched after the arrest of Virendra Ram, then Chief Engineer of the Rural Development Department, who was accused of money laundering.
ED’s probe found that Alam was allegedly involved in awarding tenders to preferred firms in exchange for commissions. The case led to extensive searches by the ED at properties linked to Virendra Ram in cities including Delhi, Patna, Jamshedpur, and Ranchi.
During a raid on the former minister’s personal assistant’s aide cash worth several crores of rupees were recovered further strengthening the investigation of ED in the case.
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