Chennai, (Samajweekly) The Election Commission of India on Tuesday seized unaccounted money to the tune of Rs 74.50 lakh from a car during vehicle checks at the Vallam toll gate on the outskirts of Tamil Nadu’s Vellore town.
Vellore local Police officers also participated in the search operations.
Police officers said that members of the Static Surveillance Team led by election officer S. Velayudham intercepted a car near the toll gate in Vallam village on the highway and during checking, the team found unaccounted-for cash in the vehicle.
K. Jothi Kumar, a native of Arani town in Tiruvannamalai, who was driving the car, said that he had been carrying the cash from a private bank from Arani town to refill an ATM centre near Vallam village on the highway.
He informed election officials that the confiscated money was the leftover cash after the ATM machine had been refilled.
However, Jothi Kumar who works as a loading agent with the bank, could not produce any documents for the cash he was carrying; he only had his identity card provided by the bank.
A senior officer with the Vellore district police told IANS that cash for ATMs should be carried only in specific vehicles authorised by banks.
The officer said that the seized amount was carried in a private car that did not have any security arrangements to safeguard the cash. The team seized the cash and handed it over to S. Ekambaram, deputy returning officer (Vellore constituency) in the presence of P. A. Arun Selvan, Thahsildar (Arcot).
On Monday, Rs 7.50 lakh was seized from the residence of a person named Natarajan who is a close relative of the Vellore Lok Sabha candidate of DMK, Kathir Anand, the son of S. Duraimurugan, water resources minister of Tamil Nadu government. Duraimurugan is a close associate of the first family of the DMK.
Earlier, an amount of Rs 4 crore was seized from the AC compartment of the Nalli express bound for Tirunelveli at Tambaram railway station on Saturday night and three persons were arrested in this connection.
