Rs 3 cr unaccounted cash seized in State in two days

Official sources at the State Public Election Department said that in the past two days, TN poll machinery had seized more than Rs 3 crore and the cash seizure reports continue to pour in from other districts.

A statement from the office of the CEO said that the squads on Tuesday seized unaccounted for Rs 1.14 crore and Rs 1.92 crore cash on Wednesday. In Ariyalur town, Rs 1.35 crore was seized by the static surveillance team and there were similar heavy seizures from The Nilgiris and Tirunelveli. The statement also said gift items, utensils, gutkha to an amount of Rs 9 lakh had been seized till now.

“With the State readying itself for the Lok Sabha polls and the by-polls to 18 vacant Assembly seats, EC will definitely get hold of more seizures. This time, with the increase in flying squads and static surveillance teams, the cash seizures will certainly be more,” said an official who had served as a district election officer.

In 2016, the EC, in a confidential note to the Income-Tax department, had said that there were entries in notes stating that close to Rs 89 crore was distributed over cash for votes in RK Nagar and subsequently, the polls were rescinded.

“TN is now under complete surveillance and 702 static surveillance squads and 702 flying squads are monitoring the state for poll-related cases. In the past two days, unaccounted cash to an estimate of Rs 3.07 crore has been seized,” CEO Satyabrata Sahoo told reporters.

Sahoo, who also conducted a review meeting with SPs and District Collectors on election arrangements, instructed the district election machinery to intensify patrol.