Rs 2 crore unaccounted cash seized in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Income Tax sleuths swooped down on a hotel in Gandhinagar on Thursday afternoon and seized Rs 2 crore unaccounted cash.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the cash was mobilized from contractors and was to be paid for political leaders in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
This is the first major cash seizure in the state after the model code of conduct kicked in with the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule on March 10.
The cash had been allegedly kept in a room in Rajmahal Hotel, near Anand Rao Circle, by an executive engineer from the state’s rural development and panchayat raj department. The engineer, identified as Narayanagouda B Patil of Haveri, is absconding.
This is the first major cash seizure in the state after the model code of conduct kicked in with the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule on March 10.
IT sources said Patil had booked two rooms in the hotel and transported the cash in his car. IT officials, who had prior information about the cash movement, raided the rooms around 3:30 pm and found currency notes of Rs 500 and 2,000 denominations.
“During the search Rs 1.5 crore was found along with loose sheets showing payments by various contractors at 5% contract value. The practice of funding polls through public funds paid to contractors is a cynical ploy that cuts at the roots of Indian democracy,” IT sources maintained.
The car used by Patil has been seized and his driver has been taken into custody. Following this, IT sleuths raided Patil’s residence in Haveri and reportedly seized Rs 25 lakh cash. Sources in the IT department said they are yet to ascertain the names of the contractors who have made the payments and the identity of the end-receiver.
Meanwhile, the cash seizure triggered a mud-slinging match between the Congress and BJP on Friday.
BJP MLC N Ravikumar alleged that the money was part of “10% commission being collected from contractors" by the JDS-Congress government and was meant to be distributed among voters. He alleged that massive collection and movement of cash was unlikely to have happened without being brought to the notice of rural development and panchayat raj minister C Krishna Byregowda. He demanded the minister’s resignation and urged the Election Commission to conduct a probe.
Spiking the allegations, minister Byregowda stated: “The IT department is investigating and will take action against the accused.” He took potshots at the BJP over its "wild imaginations" even before the investigation had started.