Officials attached to the flying squad seized Rs 52 lakh from a 25-year-old man travelling to Ramanathapuram in a private omni bus, near Pallavaram on Tuesday night.
Though Mohammed Dazigar (25) informed the officials that the money was from the proceeds of the sale of his father’s business at Parry’s corner, the personnel handed over the entire amount to the Income Tax department for assessing the source.
The relatives of Dazigar too corroborated his claims saying that the money had come from the sale of business as the family was relocating to Ramanathapuram, but to no avail. Sources said that the Income Tax department would be hand back the money to Dazigar after verification.
Meanwhile, the squad personnel also seized an unclaimed cardboard box with 92 mobile phones from the same bus.
According to the statistics released by the Election Commission in the State, the officials have till now seized `10,25,69,324 in cash. Materials like sarees, dhotis, among others, worth `1,10,41,860, suspected to be meant for bribing the voters too were seized.
Speaking to Express, a senior police official said that money in most of the cases was not meant for bribing voters as involvement of politicians was not proved.
Though some politicians were also caught carrying money, later on it was found that it was meant for their business.
“However, we cannot go beyond the rules laid down by the Election Commission. We have to follow them,” the official added.
The Election Commission set a limit on liquid cash that could be carried on person after it was flooded with complaints of large scale bribing of voters.
Recently, trade bodies had requested the Commission to relax norms and to permit people to carry cash up to `3 lakh without any document considering the inflation and the need for money for domestic ceremonies, including marriages and treatment.
The strict action has apparently affected money flow and slowed down the economy as people were unwilling to transact in excess of `10 lakh, they had claimed.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission officials clarified that people could carry up to `10 lakh with proper documents and anything over that amount would be handed over to the Income Tax department to assess its source, before releasing it.