In one of the biggest cash seizures in the country during this general election, the Cyberabad police on Friday seized Rs. eight crore from three persons travelling in two private buses.
Acting on a tip-off, the Special Operations Team sleuths of Cyberabad lay in wait at Palamakula of Shamshabad on city outskirts in the early hours. Around 4.45 a.m., the two private buses passing by were intercepted by them.
The SOT personnel in plain clothes checked the buses only to find seven gunny bags stuffed with currency bundles. Three passengers were taken into custody and the cash was seized.
They were taken to an undisclosed location and being interrogated. “The cash could be more than Rs. eight crore. Apparently it was meant for candidates in the fray. We’re ascertaining facts,” the Cyberabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand told The Hindu .
The SOT officials are knocking on the doors of the three suspects caught and verifying their antecedents. Officers associated with the investigation said the detained persons were making contradictory claims.
This could be part of ‘hawala transaction’ money to be used to lure voters, they said. This was the second time the SOT officials seized cash on specific inputs. Earlier, they had caught the wife of former Congress Minister Parthasarathy and her aide while they were travelling in an A.P.S.R.T.C. bus carrying Rs. 45 lakh.
The Minister’s wife claimed that she was heading a construction firm and the cash was meant for salaries of the employees.
