TNN
Bangalore, Apr 17: This election is all about big money. In a testimony to this, a whopping Rs 3.21 crore — all in cash — was seized in Mandya recently from a car meant for election purposes.
Chief electoral officer M N Vidyashankar on Wednesday declined to reveal which party the vehicle belonged to.
"The case has been handed over to the income tax department." This is the largest sum seized since the election process began. The Mandya police made the seizure a couple of days ago from Krishna, a doctor. A case has been registered against Krishna, who's believed to be a conduit.
Though the accused claimed the money came from a property transaction, Mandya SP G Ramesh said the case will be investigated simultaneously by the Directorate of Revenue Vigilance and the IT department.
Other hauls by the Election Commission include 9,000 sarees seized in Davanagere and 3,000 in Channapatna. "So far, the CEO has booked more than 300 cases for model code violation," Vidyashankar said. Former cop K C Ramamurthy has come under the scanner for distributing rice among voters. Besides, a notice has been served on former minister K Srinivasa Gowda for violating the code of conduct.
The CEC, besides deputing observers for all 224 constituencies, has deployed 61 expenditure observers.