Bag full of cash hidden under car bonnet stolen after engine catches fire in poll-bound Telangana's Warangal

After the car's engine caught fire, the passengers ran away while another person noticed some burnt notes and escaped with the bag containing cash that was hidden under the bonnet. According to police estimates, there was around Rs 50 lakh cash that was being transported for distribution among voters.

Warangal (Telangana):Amid the ongoing seizures made in poll-bound Telangana, a bag full of cash was stolen that was hidden under the bonnet of a car whose engine had caught fire on the Warangal-Khammam National Highway near Warangal on Friday. In a separate incident, police seized Rs 44 lakh from a journalist in Basheerabad mandal of Vikarabad district.

It has been learnt that some unidentified people were transporting cash by hiding it under the bonnet. When the car that was going from Warangal to Vardhannapet, reached the Bollikunta crossroad, suddenly smoke started billowing from the engine. The passengers traveling in the car left behind the money and ran away.

A passerby noticed some burnt notes and took out a bag full of notes that was hidden under the bonnet. He then escaped from the spot. Police said that the amount is estimated to be around Rs 50 lakh.

Warangal East Zone DCP Ravinder and Mamunur ACP Satish Babu inspected the site and registered a case. The police are investigating about the owner of the cash, who and why the money was being transported and who took away the bag of notes later.

The police found that the car was registered in the name of one Mani Raju Chakila with a Musarambagh address. It seems that the money was being transported for distribution to the voters in the elections, police said.

Earlier, police seized more than Rs 44 lakh cash from a journalist in Basheerabad mandal of Vikarabad district. The police were conducting inspections at the mandal centre on Thursday midnight when they stopped a journalist from Tandur, who was riding a two-wheeler to the railway station gate from Bashirabad.

While inspecting his vehicle, police found Rs 44,84,500 in cash. SI Venugopal Goud said investigations revealed that this money was being transferred to the voters on behalf of the Tandoori Congress candidate. He said that a case has been registered after taking possession of the cash.