Tamil Nadu election officials stop three containers carrying Rs. 570 crore near Tirupur

Tamil Nadu election officials stop three containers carrying Rs. 570 crore near Tirupur

Officials of a flying squad constituted to prevent unaccounted cash flow during elections, intercepted three trucks loaded with Rs. 570 crore in total at Chengapalli near Tirupur on Saturday morning.

The three containers purportedly carrying Rs. 570 crore of a bank and were stopped by EC officials near Tirupur on Saturday.

“Preliminary enquiy revealed that the money belonged to SBI. But the security guards didn't carry original documents but only photocopies. Since it raised suspicion, the incident is being probed,” Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni told reporters. “A special team comprising IT officials and bank officials has been formed and sent there to probe the incident.”

The men in the cars, who claimed to be plainclothesmen from Andhra Pradesh, told the officials that they were transferring the cash from State Bank of India in Coimbatore to Visakhapatnam. Since they could not produce any document to support their claims, the vehicles were taken to the District Collectorate in Tirupur.

The flying squad of the election department, along with paramilitary forces, seized the cash early Saturday morning during a routine vehicle check on Perumanallur-Kunnathur bypass road, police said.

The containers, escorted by three cars, did not halt, but officials chased them and stopped them near Chengapalli. A check revealed the amount kept in several boxes inside the containers, they said.

Meanwhile, the city police officials contacted media persons with a request not to show the vehicle numbers in their news items as the same trucks were routinely been used for such cash transfers. Information about the vehicles could prove to be handy for extremists to easily attack the vehicles during future cash transactions, police sources said.

 Source:THE HINDU