CHENNAI/TIRUNELVELI: The Tambaram police on Sunday issued summons to the BJP’s Tirunelveli candidate Nainar Nagendran in the case related to the Flying Squad Teams’ (FST) recovery of Rs 3.98 crore in cash from three people on a train bound for Tirunelveli last week. Police said inquiries had revealed that the cash was to be distributed to voters in the constituency on the candidate’s instructions.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Tirunelveli earlier in the day, Nagendran said the FST officials were singling him out for scrutiny. “The DMK has been distributing money to voters. In spite of this, FST officials are targeting only me and checking my vehicles three times a day. Even the hotel I was staying at and the houses of my friends were raided. I am unable to campaign properly because of this,” he said.
“In the summons, we have asked Nagendran to appear for an inquiry on a date convenient to him. We have also issued a summons to Govardhan (state president of the BJP Industry Cell) as his name came up during the inquiry and we suspect that he has links to the case,” a police source said.
On April 6, the FST at Tambaram railway station seized Rs 3.98 crore from three men who were travelling on an express train from Egmore to Tirunelveli. Police sources said the trio allegedly informed them, during investigations, that the cash was being taken for distribution to voters in Tirunelveli on the instructions Nagendran, who is the sitting MLA for Tirunelveli.
Cops handed over recovered cash to Tahsildar
Tambaram police registered a case and arrested the trio. Of the men arrested, S Sathish was manager of Hotel Blue Diamond and was a member of BJP. The other two were identified as S Naveen and S Perumal. The trio named three other people whose involvement is being investigated. Recovered cash was handed over to Tahsildar.