Unaccounted cash worth nearly Rs 1.48 crore has been recovered from RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam(AMMK) office in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. A late night raid, which created commotion after shots were fired to ‘control the situation’, has recovered packets and envelopes meant for distribution to voters as bribe. According to a statement from the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), the raid, which came to an end at 5: 30 am on Wednesday, discovered 94 packets and envelopes with ward numbers and numbers of voters, with Rs 300 set aside per voter.
The wards found labelled on the packets and envelopes belong to the Andipatti assembly segment. The Andipatti assembly constituency is set for bye-polls on April 18, along with the Lok Sabha elections. Former AIADMK MLA Thanga Tamilchelvan was disqualified after he, along with 17 of his colleagues, extended support to AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran. R Jayakumar is the party’s candidate this time around. AMMK’s Andipatti candidate, however, has alleged that the money belongs to AIADMK.
Exclusive: Visuals of cash packets seized by IT dept in Andipatti with ward numbers, number of voters and amount of money written on them.
Police had to fire in the air as AMMK cadres clashed with the officials who came to raid the premises.#AMMK #ITRaids #Theni pic.twitter.com/Go2hcdxo7u
— Shilpa Nair (@NairShilpa1308) April 16, 2019
According to the investigation, the office was functioning out of the ground floor of the building and belongs to an AMMK functionary. As per the sworn statement of one of the party workers present at the premises, Rs 2 crore in cash had been brought for distribution to voters in the Andipatti panchayat union area on Tuesday. The statement said that a group of party workers ‘overpowered’ the members of the flying squad. Some party workers ran away with a few cash packets, according to the police. The remaining amount was seized.
Along with the cash packets, a postal ballot paper, with its vote marked for the AMMK candidate in the Andipatti assembly bye-polls, was also found. While the district Collector and SP supervised the security arrangements, an FIR has been registered in the case.
The raid which began shortly after 9 pm in Theni’s Andipatti shocked the state after police opened fire. According to the police, an election flying squad got a tip-off that cash was being hoarded by AMMK party members with the intention to bribe voters ahead of the April 18 Lok Sabha Election. However, upon reaching the office, the AMMK workers did not allow the officials to enter the premises. Police fired four rounds in the air “in order to control the situation.”
Source: The News Minute