Cyberabad police seized Rs. 45.10 lakh from K. Kamala, wife of former Minister K. Parthasarathy who is contesting on YSRC ticket from Machilipatnam Lok Sabha constituency, at Vanasthalipuram on Friday.
Ms. Kamala was proceeding to Vijayawada in ‘Vennela’, bus of APSRTC, when the special operations team of the Cyberabad on a tip-off, intercepted it at a petrol bunk near Autonagar on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway a little after Thursday midnight. When they checked the laptop bag, they stumbled upon the currency bundles inside.
The former Minister’s wife claimed that she was managing director of Nitin Sai Constructions which had taken up some construction work at Hanuman Junction in Vijayawada. “She said the money had nothing to do with her husband contesting as MP. She maintained that she had to pay salaries to her employees and hence carried the sum,” Vanasthalipuram ACP L. Anand Bhaskar said.
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She was accompanied by an assistant Shekhar and most of the currency notes were old. There were 21 bundles of Rs. 1,000 denomination, 47 bundles of Rs. 500 denomination and one bundle of Rs. 100 denomination. A criminal case under Sections 171B (offering bribe to lure voters) and 171E (punishment for bribery) of IPC was registered. No arrests were made. After recording statements of witnesses, the amount was sent to the custody of Income Tax officials who had suggested to the police that it should be deposited to the government treasury office.
Meanwhile, sources said that officials of the Election Commission of India were coming to city from Delhi to look into the case.
They would gather details of the money seized and ascertain facts before recommending further action in the case.
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