Jharkhand Congress MP Dhiraj Sahu on Friday reacted for the first time to the recovery of ₹353 crore from premises linked to him and his firm and said his firm will answer all questions of the income tax department. Dhiraj Sahu admitted that the money belonged to his family business, but not to him personally and had nothing to do with Congress. In the biggest cash haul of the country in a single operation, ₹353 crore was recovered from premises in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal – all linked to Dhiraj Sahu’s liquor firm.

“Let the income tax department declare whether this is black money or white money. All our businesses are in the name of our family. I have a huge family. I am not a businessman. I am a politician and I have been in politics for the last 30-35 years. My family will answer to this. This has nothing to do with me or my party,” Dhiraj Sahu said distancing himself from the huge cash haul that grabbed the attention of the national media last week for the mountainous task the counting of the recovered notes became.

On December 6, the income tax department started raiding the premises of a liquor company across three states. Bundles of cash, many old notes of ₹500 gathering mildew were found stacked in almirahs and there were multiples of them. The counting began a day after and it took five days to count all the cash as the machine gave in, more people were needed to be deployed for the mammoth task.

Almirahs full of money: PM Modi’s guarantee every penny has to be returned

The recovery of the money made such a spectacle that Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that it is Modi’s guarantee that “they will have to return every penny”. “Countrymen should look at these piles of currency notes and then hear the addresses of its (Congress) leaders on honesty. Every penny looted from people will have to be returned. This is Modi’s guarantee,” PM Modi said.

As the haul became a flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress, Union home minister Amit Shah questioned the silence of the INDIA partners.