Days after the JD(U) switched sides to join the NDA, its MLC Radha Charan Sah, who is in Enforcement Directorate custody, saw the attachment of his properties worth over Rs 26 crore as part of a money laundering investigation linked to alleged illegal sand mining in the state.

The JD(U) said no political implications should be drawn from the action. Its national spokesperson Rajib Ranjan told The Indian Express: “Sah and his son Kanhaiya Sah have been facing ED cases for a while now. The ED attaching their property is part of the investigation and judicial process. No political meaning should be read into it.”

Sah, Kanhaiya and directors of a firm allegedly linked to him were arrested by the ED last year and are currently in judicial custody. A chargesheet was filed against them in November 2023.

At the time, the JD(U), then in the rival Mahagathbandhan camp, had slammed the ED action as part of “the BJP’s political vendetta to browbeat its political opponents ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls”.

Neeraj Kumar, a fellow JD(U) MLC and party spokesperson, had said: “While it is a known fact that the BJP has been using Central agencies for political vendetta as per its political convenience, we want to know why the ED does not arrest some Maharashtra politicians who have been under its scanner.”

In a statement Tuesday, the ED said that “the illegal sale of sand and its mining were mainly controlled by a syndicate, and Radha Charan Sah, being a syndicate member, generated huge proceeds of crime”, and that these were “layered and laundered” with the assistance of his son Kanhaiya.

The ED has accused Sah of using the proceeds of crime for the acquisition and development of a resort in Manali, and construction at a school in Ghaziabad.

Popularly known as Radha Charan ‘Seth’, Sah’s rise to riches is a well-known story – of a jalebi seller in the 1970s who gradually came to own a hotel, a resort, a rice mill and a cold storage facility in Arrah, the district headquarters of Bhojpur. He also owns hotels in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Last year, a party hosted by Sah in Arrah for Kanhaiya’s 25th wedding anniversary, attended by several politicians, was the talk of the state.

It was Sah’s growing affluence that brought him close to political parties, and he initially developed proximity to RJD president Lalu Prasad and former RJD MP Prabhunath Singh, who is currently serving a life term for murder cases. It eventually led to the RJD offering him an MLC ticket from Arrah, which he lost.

Finally, he was elected MLC from the Bhojpur-Buxar Local Authority constituency in the 2022 elections, and became JD(U) state general secretary for local bodies.

In his election affidavit, Sah declared moveable and immoveable assets worth over Rs 5.5 crore, as well as an Arms Act and a forgery case against himself.