CHENNAI: Flying Squad Teams (FST) at Tambaram seized Rs 3.98 crore — among the largest cash seizures so far — from three men, allegedly linked to BJP’s Tirunelveli candidate Nainar Nagendran, travelling on the Nellai Superfast Express from Egmore to Tirunelveli on Saturday night.
Police said the accused told them the cash was being taken for distribution to voters in Tirunelveli on the instructions of Nagendran. Nagendran, the sitting MLA for Tirunelveli, told reporters in the southern town on Sunday he had no connection to the trio and blamed the ruling DMK for trying to malign him. The DMK has demanded that election officials search all properties belonging to the BJP legislature party leader as well as other BJP candidates in the state.
The FST made the seizure at the Tambaram railway station and informed the Tambaram police. The latter registered a case and arrested the trio. Of the three men, S Sathish (33), a BJP member, is manager of Hotel Blue Diamond in Purasalwalkam, which is owned by the candidate. The other two men were identified as S Naveen (26) and S Perumal (26).
“The three men were travelling in the AC two-tier compartment. They had five bags of cash containing Rs 3,98,91,500 in Rs 500 notes. When questioned, they said they were taking the money to Tirunelveli to distribute to the voters. They were instructed by Nainar Nagendran to do so, they claimed,” a senior police officer told TNIE.
Police booked them under Section 171 (c) (Undue influence at elections) (e) (Punishment for bribery) (h) (Illegal payments in connection with an election) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of IPC. Three other people whose involvement is suspected are being investigated, police said. The cash has been handed over to the tahsildar after informing the Income Tax department. Further probe is on.
Rs 100 dhotis, Rs 2L cash at Nainar aide’s house’
“On Sunday, the trio was sent for judicial remand and the magistrate gave them a conditional bail for 10 days,” said the police officer.
The office of the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer has said that as the I-T department investigates any case of cash more than Rs 10 lakh seized during elections, the department will begin a detailed probe.
All the information related to the seizure has been sent to the department.
FST members also conducted a raid in the house of Nagendran’s supporter in Tirunelveli and seized Rs 2 lakh in cash, 100 dhotis, 44 nighties and 46 liquor bottles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in a representation to CEO Satyabrata Sahoo, DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi demanded that searches should be conducted in all places linked to BJP candidates in Tamil Nadu.
“We suspect Nainar Nagendran stored crores of rupees in secret places to distribute to the voters. Nagendran is indulging in large-scale corrupt practices and, likewise, the BJP is planning to distribute money to the voters in all constituencies wherever their candidates are contesting,” Bharathi charged.