FIR on DMK candidate over Rs 10 lakh excess money

CHENNAI: The Vellore district police on Wednesday filed an FIR against DMK’s Vellore Lok Sabha candidate, Kathir Anand, and party functionaries Poonjolay Srinivasan and Damodaran based on an income tax report about unaccounted cash being seized during raids on their properties.

“While the affidavit filed by the candidate along with his nomination papers said he had ₹9 lakh in hand, ₹19,57,010 was found in his house in Katpadi when Election Commission flying squad and I-T officials searched the premises on March 29,” said the FIR filed by inspector P Pugazh, which also mentions that the candidate had lied about cash in hand in his nomination papers.

“We will send a report to the poll panel. The EC will decide further course of action,” said chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo. The EC had earlier countermanded the election in RK Nagar seat in April 2017 following I-T searches on the premises of health minister C Vijayabaskar.


DMK will face Kathir case in court, says Stalin

Cases have been registered under IPC sections 171 (E) and 171 (B) and section 125 (A) of the RPI Act against all the three. While 171(E) is for bribery, 171 (B) is invoked against people who try to influence voters by giving money to them and 125 (A) deals with penalty for giving wrong information in the affidavit enclosed with the nomination papers.

The income tax department had also seized ₹11.48 crore from the residence of Damodaran, a DMK functionary.

“But Srinivasan, another DMK functionary, called the income tax department and claimed that the seized cash belonged to him and that it was meant for distributing to voters,” the FIR says quoting the I-T report.

“The I-T report also states that the cash, which was seized from Damodaran’s residence, must have been shifted from the college after removing the CCTV from the premises,” said the FIR.

When reporters asked the CEO about ₹15 crore seized from the premises of Sabesan, a contractor in Chennai, Sahoo said an FIR should have been filed in that case too, but he does not have details.

DMK president M K Stalin told mediapersons that the party would face the case against Kathir Anand in court.