The Income Tax (I-T) Department this week conducted two major searches across the State, seizing over ₹1.5 crore in cash.
The two searches, at Bhiwandi and Chandrapur, were in the run-up to the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled on April 29. However, much of the cash seized later turned out to be for “business use”, while the leads from the Maharashtra Police to the Quick Response Team did not provide specific inputs.
“In Chandrapur, we had inputs that cash was collected at a businessman’s house and was later to be distributed to voters who may have favoured the party in the second phase polling. But when we went there, we only found a small amount. The searches in Bhiwandi, too, did not lead to any concrete results,” said a senior I-T Department official.
The two raids resulted in the seizure of three currency bundles worth ₹90 lakh, ₹40 lakh and ₹20 lakh. The teams to Chandrapur were dispatched from Mumbai, but came back with no major success. “We are struggling in the absence of specific inputs,” the official said.