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Rs 10 lakh ‘excess cash’ seized from DMK leader Durai Murugan’s house by I-T dept

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said that Income Tax officials searches conducted in DMK leader Durai Murugan’s house were initiated based on information provided by the police.

The search, which began in the wee hours of Saturday ended later in the day, with the officials seizing Rs 10 lakh as alleged ‘excess cash’ from the leader’s house in Vellore. Searches were also conducted in the colleges run by Durai Murugan Educational Trust and in the farmhouse of a close aide.

Durai Murugan’s son Kathir Anand is contesting from Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming polls.

Around 10 pm on Friday, a team of officials from the Election Commission and Income Tax department landed up at Durai Murugan’s house in Vellore. Since Durai Murugan and his son were not available, the team waited for around two hours till the duo reached home. Durai Murugan, his son and DMK’s legal team examined the search warrant in possession of the search squad, which indicated cash movements under the jurisdiction of the Arakkonam parliamentary constituency, under which the house does not fall.

Hence, the legal team entered into an argument with the search team, following which they returned with a new warrant which authorised the search in Vellore constituency around 3 am on Saturday. The search, which lasted for more than 10 hours on Saturday, saw Rs 10.50 lakh of alleged ‘excess cash’ being seized from Durai Murugan’s house, according to reports.

While Durai Murugan slammed the searches and called it a ‘conspiracy’ by political opponents, the CEO told the press that it was done following information provided by the police.

According to the data with the Election Commission of India, Rs 91.01 crore cash and 684 kilograms of precious metals have been seized by the officials across the state. The total value of the precious metals seized is around Rs 88.27 crore and the total value of cash, liquor, narcotics and metals seized in Tamil Nadu as on Saturday stands at Rs 185.4 crore.

Source: The News Minute