Cash worth Rs 2 crore and over 25 kg of gold had been seized in Tamil Nadu by various enforcing authorities working in tandem to curb the flow of cash during the elections. On Wednesday alone, gold ornaments totaling 21 kg were seized in Chennai.
However, traders complain the steps by the Election Commission were hitting them, as most of the small traders perform transactions involving cash.
The state Election Commission said ever since the election dates were announced on March 5, authorities from the Election Commission, Revenue department, Police, Financial Intelligence unit, directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, and others, were working round-the-clock towards curbing this.
In the last three days in Chennai alone, unaccounted cash worth Rs 70 lakh had been seized.
Tahsildar Subramaniam, who led Wednesday's operation, said the search was carried out on the instruction from the Election Commission. Two individuals, Jogender Singh and Yogender Singh, who were carrying these ornaments without valid documents, besides they were giving contradictory replies. “An FIR has been filed against them and the ornaments and the car have been taken into custody,” said Subramaniam.
In another recent incident, on March 11, gold biscuits worth Rs 1.80 crore were nabbed from a bus passenger in Chennai. Two days prior to that, in Kanyakumari, the flying squads seized Rs 8.83 lakh and 24 gold coins.
Other major searches include Rasipuram (Rs 18.70 lakh), Ariyalur (Rs 2.67 lakh), Ponneri (Rs 4 lakh), Salem (Rs 1.98 lakh), Arrupukottai (Rs 3.1 lakh), Kumbakonam (Rs 3.70 lakh) and in Ariyalur (Rs 2 lakh).
Chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar said any cash without documents would be seized and as for monitoring cash transactions concerning self-help groups, he said all banks had been advised generally to report to district collectors on transactions involving transfer of money exceeding Rs 1 lakh.
Authorities will release the seized if proper documents are submitted, he added.
Meanwhile, in four different incidents on Monday, officials had seized Rs 39.90 lakh that are yet to be accounted. During a vehicle check on Monday near the state Express Transport Corporation bus stand here, officials found a person carrying Rs 15 lakh in a bag.
Later, it was found that he was carrying another Rs 5 lakh.
In another incident, officials seized Rs 8.50 lakh from a car on the Pollachi-Valparai Road, near Chinnampalayam. Another Rs 7.30 lakh was seized from a car near Negamam from Abubacker who claimed that the cash was to buy poultry.
With cash seizure becoming the norm of the day, district officials held a meeting with jewellery traders and pawn brokers to brief them on the procedure to carry cash during the election period when the model code of conduct was in place.
Unaccounted money to the tune of Rs 35 lakh was seized from a businessman during a routine vehicle check by a police team on NSC Bose Road in Parrys on Sunday. The police said the money was found in the car of plastic goods trader Praveen Kumar of Park Town, who was unable to furnish the source of it.
Authorities have filed 8,345 cases relating to public properties and 4,602 cases pertaining to private properties.
The EC had seized around Rs 100 crore in the last Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, according to reports.
