Once the most visited address of Ranchi, the residence of the ex-chief minister, Madhu Koda, in the Jharkhand capital now stands sealed.
On Wednesday, two note counting machines were recovered from Koda'a residence and it was also revealed that his Chartered Accountant's personal computer has been reformatted, leading to a loss of possible evidence.
Soon after, the Income Tax department sealed his house. Koda admitted during his interrogation that he stashed away Rs 375 crore in various Swiss bank accounts. The net worth of his Hawala trail is suspected to be close to Rs 2,000 crore.
Meanwhile, documents submitted in the Ranchi High Court - allegedly giving details of Koda'a various benami investments - threw up some interesting names, including the name of the Mumbai Congress Chief, Kripashankar Singh and former railway minister and RJD leader, Lalu Prasad.
The petitioner's lawyer, Rajiv Kumar says, "The Income Tax department has raided the places according to the information that we have in the documents with us.
The people mentioned are those who played an important role in the formation of the government in the state of Jharkhand. These documents were recovered from Madhu Koda's close associates, Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chaudhary.
Questions are also being raised over Arjun Munda's involvement in the scam now. Munda was the chief minister when Koda was made the mines minister in the state.
The ED is now trying to tie all loose ends of the case and has summoned Koda and seven of his associates.
Koda who is still in a Ranchi hospital, citing ill health, is being regularly monitored with the investigators asking doctors to provide regular updates on his health. The message is clear - a stomach ailment wont be able to save the ex-chief minister of Jharkhand from facing the music for long.
HOW DID MADHU KODA BECOME A BILLIONARE FROM BEING A SIMPLE LABOURER IN JHARKHAND?
Koda allegedly played with huge sums of money to increase his empire not only in India but all over the world.
It all began in Ranchi where Koda is accused of having made at least Rs 300 crore through illegal dealings. His father lives in a thatched house in a village but Koda has investments in property in Ranchi itself to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
200 kms away in Jamshedpur, his friend Binod Sinha was making investments in sponge iron mills worth Rs 18 crore and rolling mills worth Rs 13 crore. Investigators say all this was done with Koda's money.
In Uttar Pradesh, Koda allegedly found a novel way of converting black money into white - by investing in government schemes. Investigators allege that Rs 600 crore is what was pumped into the Rajiv Gandhi electrification project in the state of UP.
Mumbai was fanning Koda's dreams as well. This was allegedly his preferred destination for investments. With alleged help of a private firm named Balaji Bullion and retailers, Koda's aides managed to invest huge sums in stock markets, property and real estate in various parts of the city.
From Mumbai, Koda's empire allegedly fanned out internationally to several parts of the world. In Dubai - with the help of Abdul Bhai - almost Rs 1000 crore has allegedly been invested in shopping malls and real estate.
In Thailand, investments and joint ventures were allegedly made in hotels and casinos to the tune of Rs 500 crore.
In Liberia, Koda - then mines minister in Jharkhand - was allegedly busy building his own mines worth Rs 900 crore.
Source: ibnlive.in.com
