A day before the first phase polls in south and western Odisha, the police have seized huge cash from several places in the State. The observers and flying squads engaged for keeping an eye on the illegal money transportation are on their toes to check cash distribution by political parties to allure voters.
The Bargarh police and the magistrate on duty seized cash worth Rs1.40 lakh from a vehicle in Barpali area in the district. Besides the cash, the police also arrested a contractor Rabi Das of Stationpara, one kerosene dealer Manoj lath and a jeweler Pintu Verma when they were moving in a vehicle in the area.
The flying squad and the police of the same district have conducted search operations at Bijepur and seized two vehicles for their suspicious movements in the area.
In Jharsuguda, the police seized hard cash of Rs1.61 lakh and two bikes from three persons. The police are interrogating the persons in connection with the seized cash. “It is difficult to ascertain whom do the cash belong to,” said laikera police station IIC Subash Mishra, adding, “The detained persons in their statements are saying that the cash belongs to SPS Microfiance. Hence the matter is under investigation.”
“The police, election observers and expenditure observers are more alert on every respect including distribution of cash by candidates to allure voters. We are more watchful for Wednesday night,” said North Range DIG Sanjay Kumar.
In Ganjam, the police and the flying squads have seized hard cash of Rs50 lakh from two different places of the district. The police seized cash of Rs46 lakh from a person’s house at Pitapalli village under the Chikiti Assembly constituency area in the district. The district police also seized cash of Rs4 lakh from Panthanivas at Rambha under Chhatrapur constituency.