KRISHNAGIRI/COIMBATORE/SALEM/TIRUPATTUR: With the polls just three days away, Saturday witnessed a marked increase in the value of bribes detected and confiscated from political party workers across the State.
At Danishpet in Salem district, flying squad officials found 300 mock voting pads – bearing the name of AMMK’s Harur Assembly constituency candidate Murugan – in a car.
They were being transported without permission. Meanwhile in Tiruppur, the Cheyur police arrested two men who stored 2,051 liquor bottles, which were allegedly meant to be given to voters on polling day.
The bottles were found during a raid at the house of a panchayat ward member named Baby on Friday night.
The arrested persons – Baby’s husband Murugesan (57) and son-in-law Ayyappan (35) – bought the liquor from several TASMAC outlets in Avinashi.
As usual, bribe money too was seized in different parts of the State. In Tirupattur, the police seized Rs 1,26,900 in cash from two DMK cadre and arrested them.
DMK’s Ambur constituency candidate AC Vilvanathan was also booked as he is the uncle of one of those arrested.
In Vellore district, a Flying Squad Team (FST) caught two men distributing cash to voters on behalf of the DMK at Thuthithangal village on Friday night.
The men were identified as Ramesh and Dhakshanamoorthy, and Rs 21,880 was seized from them.