Rs 2.2 crore cash haul in Bangalore, 9 held

Bangalore, Aug 18 (IANS): Cash totalling Rs.2.12 crore was seized from two vehicles in Bangalore's southern suburbs while it was allegedly being taken to Bangalore Rural and Mandya parliamentary constituencies where by-elections are due Aug 21, police said.

Nine people were arrested, police added.

"We have intercepted both the vehicles when they were speeding towards Kengeri in the Bangalore Rural district and seized the unaccounted cash, as the accused failed to explain or produce documents to prove the currency notes were meant for ATMs of banks," Subramanyapura police inspector Bale Gowda told IANS.

"We recovered Rs.1.2 crore from one vehicle and Rs.1.09 crore from another vehicle in denominations of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000," he added.

All the accused, aged between 24 and 52 and residents of the city, have been booked under sections of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

With the model code of conduct in force for Wednesday's by-polls, officials of the election commission, police and excise departments have been on high alert to prevent movement of unaccounted cash, liquor and other material, which may be used to woo the electorate.

"We are investigating the case with police and income tax officials to ascertain the source of the unaccounted cash, where it was being carried and for what purpose by the accused who claimed to be from a security agency, which transports currency notes of various banks to ATMs in the region," said a poll observer for the by-elections.

The by-elections have been necessitated following the resignation of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmakers -- former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former minister N. Cheluvaraiswamy from the Lok Sabha after getting elected to the state legislative assembly in the May 5 elections.

Anitha Kumarswamy, wife of Kumaraswamy, is the JD-S candidate for the Bangalore Rural parliamentary seat and C.S. Puttaraju of the JD-S for the Mandya parliamentary seat, about 100km from here.

The duo is pitted against ruling Congress candidates D.K. Suresh Kumar and Kannada cine actor Ramya, respectively.

Kumar is the younger brother of former Congress minister D.K. Shiv Kumar.