RANCHI, May 12 -- The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to former Jharkhand rural development minister, Congress's Alamgir Alam, along with his private secretary Sanjeev Lal, in a money laundering case, people familiar with the development said. The 76-yr-old leader has been in judicial custody since his arrest by the ED on May 15, 2024. A bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh ordered their conditional release, observing that the accused had already spent nearly two years in jail. "While the court had previously denied bail on April 2, to allow for the recording of key witness statements, it now determined that further incarceration was unwarranted given the sluggish pace of the trial and the ED's repeated filing of supplementary charge sheets," an advocate close to the matter said. Member of Alam's legal team in Ranchi AK Kanth said, "I will share further details once the order is uploaded on the website, which is expected by tomorrow morning." Congress spokesperson Sonal Shanti echoed Kanth. The case centres on a massive 'tender commission' racket in the state's rural development department. In May 2024, ED raided premises linked to Lal's domestic help, Jahangir Alam, that led to the recovery of Rs.32.20 crore in cash. Images of the massive cash piles, which required multiple machines to count, became a nationwide talking point....