CHENNAI: An election flying squad seized 4 crore in cash from three people aboard the Chennai-Tirunelveli Nellai Express when the train reached Tambaram station on Saturday night. Inquiries revealed that one of them is a BJP worker with an official party identity card.
S Sathish, 33, of Agaram, his brother S Navin, 31, and S Perumal, 26, of Thoothukudi were detained and their bags stacked with 500 currency notes seized.
Based on a tip that the three men had boarded the train in Egmore with eight bags, the flying squad in Tambaram, along with police personnel, rushed to Tambaram station at 9 pm and scanned the AC II-tier coach when the train reached the station.
The three men were found to be in possession of 3.99cr. They were detained at the police station, and income tax officials were alerted.
Based on their confession, police conducted searches in Kilpauk, Triplicane, Saligramam and other places linked to Tirunelveli BJP candidate Nainar Nagendran, where the cash had allegedly been parked before being moved in bags to Egmore railway station.
Hotel Blue Diamond on Poonamallee High Road, where Sathish worked as a manager, was also searched.
Further investigations are on to ascertain the source of the money and to verify whether it was being taken for distribution among voters in Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency.
However, Nainar Nagendran refuted any links to the cash seized in Chennai and said that he was being targeted as the BJP’s winning prospects in Tirunelveli constituency are high. “DMK is not able to digest it,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, DMK’s organisation secretary RS Bharathi has written to the Election Commission of India seeking searches in places linked to all BJP candidates, in Tamil Nadu including Nainar Nagendran, alleging that the party has planned to distribute cash to woo voters.
S Sathish, 33, of Agaram, his brother S Navin, 31, and S Perumal, 26, of Thoothukudi were detained and their bags stacked with 500 currency notes seized.
Based on a tip that the three men had boarded the train in Egmore with eight bags, the flying squad in Tambaram, along with police personnel, rushed to Tambaram station at 9 pm and scanned the AC II-tier coach when the train reached the station.
The three men were found to be in possession of 3.99cr. They were detained at the police station, and income tax officials were alerted.
Based on their confession, police conducted searches in Kilpauk, Triplicane, Saligramam and other places linked to Tirunelveli BJP candidate Nainar Nagendran, where the cash had allegedly been parked before being moved in bags to Egmore railway station.
Hotel Blue Diamond on Poonamallee High Road, where Sathish worked as a manager, was also searched.
Further investigations are on to ascertain the source of the money and to verify whether it was being taken for distribution among voters in Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency.
However, Nainar Nagendran refuted any links to the cash seized in Chennai and said that he was being targeted as the BJP’s winning prospects in Tirunelveli constituency are high. “DMK is not able to digest it,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, DMK’s organisation secretary RS Bharathi has written to the Election Commission of India seeking searches in places linked to all BJP candidates, in Tamil Nadu including Nainar Nagendran, alleging that the party has planned to distribute cash to woo voters.