Hyderabad police seized 4.92 crore

In the past 48 hours, the Hyderabad police seized ?4.92 crore of ‘unaccounted’ cash, reportedly connected to the Lok Sabha election.

The ‘illegal’ cash meant for distribution to voters was seized at several places in the city, including Banjara Hills, and Jubilee Hills, during surveillance and vehicle checking, said Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar on Sunday.

In most of the cases, people apprehended by the police for possession of cash were associated with candidates of a single party, including Malkajgiri and Nalgonda Lok Sabha candidates.

When reporters asked how only one particular party’s cash was being seized by the police, the Commissioner declined an answer and moved to the next question. “Curbing flow of unaccounted cash is the task given by the Election Commission,” he said.

In the first case, the West Zone task force team raided an apartment in Somajiguda on Saturday and apprehended two businessmen for possessing ?26.19 lakh without valid documents. The duo were identified as M Satwik Reddy (32) from Somajiguda and Sourav Goyal (24) from Shivarampally in Rajendra Nagar. “The cash was being utilised for the forthcoming elections,” said Mr. Kumar.

In another case, sleuths of the North Zone task force, along with local police, intercepted a car in Moosarambagh and found ? 34.30 lakh in the vehicle. The apprehended person admitted that the cash was being taken to bribe voters through booth-level committee members in the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency, said the CP.

On Sunday morning, the central zone task force team recovered ?1 crore from an SUV after it was intercepted near Basava Tarakam cancer hospital on Road No. 10 of Banjara Hills. The car driver, Boddupalli Seenaiah (41), told the police that the cash was being transported at the instance of Jayaveer Reddy to ‘buy’ voters in the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency, said the Commissioner.

Further, the west zone task force team intercepted an SUV on Road No. 14 of Banjara Hills and apprehended a private employee for illegally transporting ?1 crore. The accused person was identified as Mallareddy Srinivas and the case would be handed over to the Income Tax department for investigation, he said.