A seemingly harmless 2022 post on X about rampant corruption and the extensive circulation of black money is being shared widely on social media and is now viral. In an ironic twist, the post was written by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu – at the centre of a massive cash haul upwards of Rs 290 crore – last year.

Mr Sahu’s post from August 12, 2022, read: “Even after demonetization, my heart is saddened to see so much black money and corruption in the country. I don’t understand from where people are accumulating so much black money. If anyone can root out corruption from this country, it is only the Congress.”

Dhiraj Prasad Sahu has a dark sense of humour. 😂#CorruptionKiDukan pic.twitter.com/2esDCyip1O

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 10, 2023

Sharing a screenshot of the post, BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya wrote Mr Sahu has a “dark sense of humour” with the hashtag “corruption ki dukaan”.

At least Rs 290 crore was seized in cash during raids on the offices of an Odisha-based distillery and entities linked to it in the state, Jharkhand, and Bengal. The distillery is linked to Dheeraj Sahu, officials said.

The Income Tax raids on the premises of Boudh Distilleries Private Limited entered its fifth day today. More cash counting machines were brought into the premises of Boudh Distilleries linked to Dheeraj Sahu today. Earlier, officials had swooped in on the MP’s residences in Jharkhand.

Facing massive flak over the whopping amounts of hard cash recovered in what is touted as one of India’s biggest cash hauls, the Congress on Saturday distanced itself from its MP and said that it is not connected with the businesses in any way and that the MP should explain the cash and its source.

The BJP launched an all-out attack on the Congress over the recovery, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the party’s charge against the Congress. On X, the PM wrote: “The people of the country should look atthese piles of currency notes and then listen to the honest ‘speeches’ of their leaders… Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned. This is Modi’s guarantee.”

Union Minister Smriti Irani questioned the Congress and said that the Gandhi family must reveal the name of the leader for whom the Rajya Sabha MP was working as an “ATM”.

The BJP’s Odisha unit has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and sought clarification from the ruling BJD. Party spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra showed photos of a woman minister from the state sharing stage with one of the liquor traders covered in the raids.

This tax evasion could not have been possible without the active support and patronage of local leaders and the state government, he said.

Palestinian group Hamas, engaged in a war with Israel in the Gaza Strip, warned Sunday that no hostage would leave the territory alive unless the group’s demands were met.

“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, said in a televised broadcast, referring to the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A one-week truce in the war that collapsed on December 1 saw 105 hostages held by the group freed, including 80 Israelis released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel on Saturday said 137 captives remained in the Palestinian territory.

Mediator Qatar said on Sunday that efforts to secure a new truce and release more hostages were ongoing but warned that the relentless Israeli bombardment was “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome.

Obeida said the group would continue to fight Israeli forces.

“We have no choice but to fight this barbaric occupier in every neighbourhood, street and alley,” he said.

“The enemy’s holocaust aims to break the strength of our resistance… but we are fighting on our land in a holy battle.”

The war in Gaza was triggered after Hamas operatives carried out a brutal attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

In Israel’s retaliatory air, land and sea assault against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at least 17,700 people, most of them also civilians, have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

India on Sunday night described as “fake” and “completely fabricated” a media report which claimed that a “secret memo” was issued by New Delhi in April to take “concrete” measures against certain Sikh separatists including Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the report is part of a “sustained disinformation campaign” against India and the outlet that came out with it is known for propagating “fake narratives” peddled by Pakistani intelligence.

Online American media outlet The Intercept came out with the report.

“We strongly assert that such reports are fake and completely fabricated. There is no such memo,” Mr Bagchi said.

“This is part of a sustained disinformation campaign against India. The outlet in question is known for propagating fake narratives peddled by Pakistani intelligence. The posts of the authors confirm this linkage,” he said.

“Those who amplify such fake news only do so at the cost of their own credibility,” he said, responding to media queries on the report.

In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the allegation of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil on June 18.

India strongly rejected the charges, calling them “absurd”.

In its report, The Intercept claimed that the Indian government issued instructions on a “crackdown scheme” against certain Sikh entities in western countries.

It further claimed that the secret memorandum issued in April by the Ministry of External Affairs lists several “Sikh dissidents under investigation by India’s intelligence agencies, including the Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)