This story is from October 6, 2020

Bihar: Two arrested with Rs 1.11 crore in Darbhanga during vehicle checking

Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) personnel engaged in election duty along with police seized Rs 1.11 crore hidden in separate compartments below seats of a SUV at a check post on Jatmalpur bridge under Bishanpur police station area in Darbhanga on Tuesday.
Bihar: Two arrested with Rs 1.11 crore in Darbhanga during vehicle checking
Representative image
PATNA: Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) personnel engaged in election duty along with police seized Rs 1.11 crore hidden in separate compartments below seats of a SUV at a check post on Jatmalpur bridge under Bishanpur police station area in Darbhanga on Tuesday.
Police said two persons were arrested while one managed to flee when security personnel flagged them to stop the SUV at the post on Darbhanga-Samastipur main road.

Police said arrested persons were identified as Rohit Khandelwal and SUV driver Santosh Paswan, both native of Jainagar in Madhubani.
Tuesday’s seizure at Jatmalpur is the biggest one done till now in state by security personnel after model code of conduct got enforced on September 25.
Earlier Rs 75 lakh was seized for SUV parked below Biscomaun tower at Gandhi Maidan in state capital on September 30.
Darbhanga district election officer cum district magistrate SM Thiyagarajan said altogether Rs 1.11 crore was seized from SUV during vehicle checking.
“The duo failed to give any satisfactory reply to police and other authorities who quizzed them,” he said.
Thiyagarajan said they also failed to produce any relevant document to establish the validity of source of money being carried during election time.

“Income tax department’s nodal authority has been informed about the cash seizure. No other documents were recovered from the SUV to say easily that money was meant for use in election but further investigation is going on,” he said.
Meanwhile, Darbhanga City SP Ashok Prasad said money was kept hidden below seats of the SUV.
Prasad said exact seized amount turned out to be Rs 1, 11, 09, 150 in manual counting but it's being reverified using currency counting machine.
“Rohit claimed himself to be a collection agent of a cement firm and said they had left Jainagar for collecting money from Samastipur and different places,” he said.
“However, their activities like trying to escape from spot after jumping from SUV and initial attempt of not stopping vehicle even after being signalled clearly raises suspicion indicating foul play. Moreover, they failed to reply what was need to money below seats in separate compartments,” he said.
Prasad said police finally arrested the duo and process was on to register an FIR against them as per law amid model code of conduct.
“We have some clues. Further investigation were going on in connection with seizure,” he added.
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