VELLORE: A team of Income Tax (IT) department officials on Saturday swooped down on a DMK man at Puduvasoor in Vellore district and seized unaccounted cash worth Rs. 27 lakh, sources said.
The raid was conducted ahead of the elections to Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, scheduled to be held on 5 August.
The sources said a team of 10 I-T men, assisted by members from a poll squad and a Static Surveillance Team (SST) visited the residence of DMK member Ezhumalai around noon and began the search.
Ezhumalai is involved in real estate business.
The team found Rs. 27 lakh cash in his house, the sources noted, adding that although Ezhumalai claimed the money was earned through his business deals, he could not show any documents as proof.
Similar raids were conducted at the residence of DMK treasurer Durai Murugan, whose son DM Kathir Anand is the party’s candidate, before the April 18 polls, which ked to the seizure of unaccounted cash.
Another raid at the residence of Damodaran, a relative of local DMK functionary Poonjolai Seenivasan at Katpadi, yielded Rs. 11.48 crore.
Subsequently, the Election Commission of India had rescinded the polls.
The date of fresh elections in Vellore was announced on July 4 and the filing of nominations began on July 11.
DMK renominated Kathir Anand while AIADMK renominated AC Shanmugam, founder of Puthiya Neethi Katchi for the polls.