The Election Commission (EC) on Monday said over ₹21 crore in cash was seized during searches at Vellore and Coimbatore. The operations were coordinated by Madhu Mahajan, who has been appointed the Special Expenditure Observer by the EC for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The first case, in which ₹11.53 crore was seized, pertains to searches on premises allegedly linked to Durai Murugan, sitting MLA of Vellore and DMK treasurer.
The official said during the intervening night of March 29 and 30, a flying squad and Income Tax monitoring team had gone to the residence of Mr. Durai Murugan in Vellore to check on an input that a large amount of cash was stored for distribution in elections. It is alleged that party functionaries obstructed the teams and “in the meanwhile, shifted the cash and other material out of the premises”.
Based on leads and surveillance, the cash allegedly moved from Kingston college (run by Duraimurugan Educational Trust) to a cement godown belonging to Poonjolai Srinivasan, a DMK functionary in Nadumottur village, Katpadi, in Vellore district, according to a report received by the EC.
“A fresh search was conducted today (Monday) in which the cash was found stuffed in cartons and gunny bags, neatly packed for ward-wise distribution, with computer printed labels on the packets,” said an EC official.
Mr. Durai Murugan’s son Kathir Anand is contesting from the Vellore Parliamentary constituency in the general elections.
During the day, searches were also conducted at educational institutions and premises managed by Mr. Anand. At the time of going to print, the searches that began in the morning were still on at some of the locations in Vellore. Currency counting machines were also requisitioned from local banks.
While usually the I-T department maintains absolute secrecy of search operations, on Monday video clips and photos of cash bundles being examined were circulated all day on mobile messaging platforms, though the source of the same remained uncertain.
Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo told journalists in Chennai that only on the basis of the I-T department’s report would they be able to conclude if the cash belonged to any candidate or party. While DMK president M.K. Stalin charged that the I-T searches were conducted at the behest of the BJP-led Central government to intimidate the Opposition, Mr. Durai Murugan alleged that there was a conspiracy to rescind the poll notification in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency and two Assembly constituencies in the region where bypolls are due. “They have miscalculated that by targeting they can intimidate the others in the DMK. Today it is me, tomorrow it will be someone else. But this is being done by those who can’t read the people’s mind,” he said.
Mr. Durai Murugan further alleged that his son had effectively been prevented from campaigning for the last three days by the ongoing searches.
I-T officials had on Saturday searched Mr. Durai Murugan’s house and an engineering college in Christianpet near Katpadi managed by Mr. Anand and recovered ₹10.50 lakh “excess” cash and some documents.
Searches were conducted on Monday at six places including at another DMK functionary Asther Ali’s house in Kalpudhur and a school managed by Mr. Anand. Though searches in these two premises were completed by evening, the outcome was not immediately known.
In another case reported from Coimbatore, the I-T department seized ₹9.83 crore in cash. “The assessee is a young man by the name G. Ramesh, the proprietor of Universal Trading Solutions, who was collecting deposits from the public promising high returns. He trades in the commodities market,” the EC said. In Tamil Nadu, ₹108.75 crore in cash and precious metals valued at ₹93 crore had been seized so far, it added.