A staffer of Karnataka Congress Minister C. Puttaranga Shetty was caught with unaccounted Rs 14 lakh in cash at the entrance of the state secretariat in the city centre, police said on Friday.

"We have detained the Minister's staffer Mohan and seized the cash (Rs 14 lakh) from him at the secretariat, as he could not explain its source or account for it," city central Deputy Commissioner of Police Devaraj told reporters here.

Shetty, a legislator from Chamarajanagar Assembly segment in the southwest old Mysuru region, is the Social Welfare Minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the southern state.

Vidhana Soudha Police Station Inspector Shankarachar registered a case against the accused and detained him for questioning on the cash he was carrying in a bag and had come to the secretariat on a two-wheeler.

"We are interrogating Mohan to explain why he was carrying so much of cash and its source as he didn't have documentary support for it," a police officer told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

According to unconfirmed reports, an additional Rs 11.76 lakh was also found with Mohan when the police carried a search on him and his bike.

--IANS

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