T'gana polls: IT dept sets up AIUs in Hyderabad, forms Quick Response Teams

The Income Tax Department has formed Quick Response Teams in all 33 districts of Telangana and set up Air Intelligence Units (AIU) at two airports in Hyderabad as part of measures undertaken by it to ensure free and fair elections in the state, which is going to polls on November 30, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Quick Response Teams have been formed in all 33 districts with officials of the Income Tax department and around 250 officials that includes 100 deputed by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) Hyderabad Sanjay Bahadur told reporters.

A 24/7 Control Room and Complaint Monitoring Cell has been set up to receive information/complaints from the public regarding cash, etc., intended for illegitimate use in the election process, he said.

Since the announcement of elections (on October 9), seizure reports pertaining to Rs 53.93 crore of cash and 156 kg of gold jewellery and 454 kg of silver (till October 24) have been received by the IT department from the police.

"Out of this, Rs 1.76 crore cash was found to be unaccounted/undisclosed cash and it has been seized by the IT department, while Rs 10.99 crore was released and an inquiry was in progress pertaining to the remaining Rs 40 crore," he said.

The IT department based on its own intelligence has also seized Rs 14.8 crore of cash in Telangana so far, Bahadur said.

As per the Election Commission of India guidelines, if cash of more than Rs 10 lakh is found in a vehicle and there is suspicion of commission of any crime or linkage to any candidate or agent or party functionary, then the officials concerned shall seize the cash and pass on the information to the IT authority, he said.

"Each of the 33 districts has an Intelligence unit and we are able to respond to any alert within 30 minutes that comes from the state authorities who are doing the interception," he said.

Air Intelligence Units (AIU) have been set up at Begumpet Airport and RGIA here for 24/7 surveillance in coordination with CISF on movement of cash/valuables, he said, adding AIUs at all other airports in the country which have connectivity to Hyderabad have also been informed to keep continuous alert on passengers travelling to Hyderabad.

The Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) App was being used for the first time by the Election Commission for verification of seizure reports, he said.

Bahadur further said the IT department Investigation Directorate has started collecting data from State Level Bankers Committee and several other relevant sources as well as analysing the digital intelligence database of IT department.

The purpose of this exercise is to identify high-value cash transactions that raise suspicion about its use for the purpose of funding an election campaign and appropriate action under law will be undertaken in such cases, the official said.

The department was profiling bank accounts where suspicious trends are seen in the movement of cash, like a sudden spike in deposit amount and immediate withdrawal, and that "triggers our suspicion and we are monitoring that", he said.

With regard to the candidates' affidavits filed before the Election Commission, he said, "the IT department also conducts verification of details of assets and income given by the candidates after taking assistance from other agencies like banks and then that data is examined against (those) in our own database. If there is any kind of suspicion and mismatch we are going to report it to the Election Commission".