Election officials seized unaccounted cash to the tune of ₹1 lakh during vehicle checks in Ranipet district on Sunday as part of the enforcement of the model code of conduct for the April 19 Lok Sabha election.
Police said that members of a Static Squad Team (SST), led by election officer S. Vasanthkumar, intercepted a car on the Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) in V.C. Mottur village near Walajah town in Ranipet around 9.30 a.m. During the check, the team found ₹1 lakh of cash in the vehicle.
B. Rupesh Kumar, 27, a native of Salem, who was driving the vehicle could not produce documents for the unaccounted cash he was carrying. He told election officials that the seized cash was meant to be given as an advance for some construction work in Ranipet. The team handed over the cash to K. Manonmanian, Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Ranipet, and Deputy Returning Officer S. Rajaraji.
Likewise, based on a complaint from election officer S. Gnanasekaran, who led the Flying Squad Team (FST), Alangayam police in Tirupattur district on Sunday registered cases against two DMK functionaries, K. Suriya (32) and V. Bharath (35) for allegedly distributing cash to people who gathered during an election campaign for DMK candidate for Vellore Lok Sabha constituency DM Kathir Anand, a few days ago.
