Coimbatore: Tension prevailed at Kuniyamuthur after DMK cadres rounded up a grocery shop claiming that the owner of the shop belonging to AIADMK was circulating money to bribe voters on Saturday night. The Kuniyamuthur police seized Rs 13,160 and voter Identity cards from the shop.
DMK cadres Loganathan, Devaraj and 50 more people assembled at Gandhi Nagar near Kuniyamuthur and claimed that the grocery shop owner R Thangaraja, 48, a AIADMK cade, was circulating money to voters as a bribe.
Immediately, the Kuniyamuthur police held an inquiry with Thangaraja. Coimbatore city police commissioner S Davidson Devasirvatham, deputy commissioner (law & order) Stalin visited the police station and held an inquiry with Thangaraja. Later, police declared that Thangaraja had Rs 13,160 in cash in his possession, a few voter ID cards and 27 membership cards of the AIADMK. He was booked under Section 171 (E) (punishment for bribery) of the Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile, the Sulur police arrested three AIADMK cadres for bribing voters on Sunday and police seized Rs 4,500 from them.
A flying squad team from the Sulur assembly constituency picked up the three cadres - O Ramasamy, 37, T Vinodhkumar, 32 and R Suresh, 23, all from Kadampadi near Sulur while distributing money to the voters.
They were handed over to the Sulur police who registered a case against the trio under sections 171 (E) (punishment for robbery) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced before the Sulur judicial magistrate and later remanded in judicial custody.
A flying squad team (FST) from the Kavundamapalayam assembly constituency got a tip-off and searched the DMK election office at PN Pudur on Sunday evening. The team found Rs 5.15 lakh in cash meant for bribing voters, and the officials handed over the DMK functionary Backiyaraj to the Saibaba Colony police. Further investigation is on.