Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Saturday said that the statement of Dhiraj Sahu, its Rajya Sabha MP at the centre of the Rs 350 crore cash recovery, has made it clear that the money does not belong to the Congress party.

Reacting to Sahu’s clarification, Tiwari said, “He (Dhiraj Sahu) has given a clear statement that the money is related to those firms that are run by his family. He clearly said that Congress or any other party has nothing to do with it. The money belongs to their business and trade and those firms will explain them. Income Tax officials can do the interrogation….”

Earlier on Friday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu reacted for the first time to the recovery of a huge cash haul during Income Tax raids at properties linked to his liquor firms. The IT department has reportedly unearthed Rs 350 crore in cash.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Sahu said, “I can admit that the money that has been recovered belongs to my firm…The cash that has been recovered is related to my liquor firms, it is the proceedings from the sale of liquor.”

The Rajya Sabha MP further clarified that the money belongs to his family’s liquor firms and has nothing to do with the Congress or any other political party.

“This money has nothing to do with Congress or any other political party as is being said…The money is not all mine, it belongs to my family and other related firms,” he said.

Sahu further added that now that Income Tax department has conducted its raids, he will give the account for the money recovered.

The recovery of such a huge cash haul, said to be the biggest sum seized by any probe agency in a single operation, made national headline, prompting the BJP to level corruption charges against the Congress party.

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his ministers, BJP leaders slammed the Congress party and questioned Rahul Gandhi’s silence over the issue.

“The Indian National Congress is in no way connected with the businesses of Dheeraj Sahu, MP. Only he can explain, and should explain, how huge amounts of cash have been reportedly unearthed by the income-tax authorities from his properties,” the Congress party had said.

The Congress, however, distanced itself from Dhiraj Sahu’s businesses and said that the Rajya Sabha MP should explain how such a huge amount of cash has been recovered from his properties.