After seizure in Chennai, EC unearths Rs 4.87cr in dists

CHENNAI: A day after Rs 4.7 crore was seized from the Egmore residence of an AIADMK functionary, Election Commission officials seized Rs 4.87 crore in separate raids in the state on Monday.
A flying squad confiscated 125 gold coins, weighing more than 30 sovereigns, and Rs 3.39 crore from a school at Uthangarai in Krishnagiri district. In Nagapattinam at midnight on Sunday , bundles of currency notes to the tune of `1.48 crore were seized from a couple in a private omnibus.
State chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni said Krishnagiri collector C Kathiravan was tipped about the cash in the school following which he alerted income tax officials and flying squads.They rushed to the school and confiscated the money and the gold coins.
Officials, who handed over the money and gold coins to I-T department officials, said the school authorities told them that the cash was stashed to pay teachers.
“The school management claimed that they give two months advance salary on the last working day in April,“ an official said, adding that the school authorities said it had purchased 30 sovereigns of gold coins as incentives for teachers. “We have seized 63 gold coins weighing 1gm each, 33 gold coins of 2gm each and 29 gold coins weighing 3gm each. The coins are worth `7.50 lakh and were recovered from the safety vault,“ said an official, part of the squad. In Nagapattinam, the squad was on a routine vehicle check near Alangudi close to Thalaignayiru when it stopped the Karaikal-bound omnibus from Kollam in Kerala.
Finding a bag full of cash, offi cials asked for its owners. After Manrajan, 50, and Vimala, 47, of Madurai claimed ownership they asked for documents. They said they were beedi traders and that they were going to Karaikal to pay for a beedi consignment, but failed to furnish documents. They were taken to the Vedaranyam taluk office for interrogation.