In poll-bound Karnataka, money grows on trees... Yes! You read it right! Mysore (Karnataka): In Bengali there is a popular saying– ‘Golper Goru Gache Othe meaning Cows climb trees in fiction but in poll-bound Karnataka, it was not a fiction but a reality where the cow was replaced by crores of currency notes that crawled upto the branches of a tree and was recovered by the Income Tax Department.
In a bizarre incident the Income Tax Department, during a raid, has recovered one crore rupees from the house of K Subramanya Rai- believed to be the brother of a candidate for the Puttur Vidhan Sabha constituency, in Mysore on Tuesday. Interestingly enough the money was hidden in a decorative plant in his garden. The IT officials seized the money and documents on Tuesday, after checking the contents of the boxes.
The video of the IT department officials opening the boxes and seizing the cash went viral on the internet. This incident highlights the ongoing efforts of various investigative agencies to prevent election irregularities.
Several investigative agencies are working together to prevent election irregularities. According to sources in the commission, the agencies cumulatively has recovered more than 309 crores from the state so far.
In Bengaluru's Pulakeshi Nagar assembly constituency, 2.05 kg of narcotics worth Rs 1.02 crore was seized on Monday. In addition, 2.67 kg of narcotics worth Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 61.40 lakh cash were seized in the BTM Layout constituency and Bangalore City South constituency, respectively. Since the implementation of the Code of Conduct, a total of Rs 111.11 crore in cash and Rs 22.33 crore worth of free gifts have been seized.
The Commission also reported that 19.62 lakh liters of liquor worth Rs 74.13 crore, 1,662.28 kg of drugs worth Rs 21.13 crore, 149.42 kg of gold worth Rs 76.05 crore, and 644.54 kg of silver worth Rs 4.48 crore were seized. The total value of gold and silver items recovered was Rs 80.53 crore. The Commission further revealed that a total of Rs 309.35 crore worth of items, including cash and liquor, have been seized.
The Election Commission has taken several measures to ensure free and fair elections and in the process the poll body has allowed deposition of 69,825 weapons. Apart from that they have seized 18 weapons and cancelled the license of 20 arms. This apart 5,522 cases were registered under the CrPC Act and non-bailable warrants were executed against 15,456 persons.
