IT sleuths seize ` 36.50 lakhs from businessman
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 18, 2012: As a part of the measures being taken up by Election Commission of India to curb excess expenditure in the election, sleuths of Income Tax Department have seized Rs 36.50 lakhs from the possession of a non-Manipuri businessman during a raid conducted at Thangal Bazar yesterday.

Accordingly to a highly placed source, in the raid conducted by officials of Central Income Tax Department, documents related to undisclosed amount of around Rs 10 crores were also recovered.

Following the incident, IT officials have also raided the residence of the younger brother of said businessman located at Jaipur, Rajasthan.

However, reports of seizure and any arrest made in this regard could not be confirmed so far.

Efforts are being made to ascertain whether the money and the documents seized from the possession of the businessman at Thangal Bazar are meant for election purposes as well as to find out whether the money is related to a candidate who is contesting election from an Assembly Constituency in Imphal West District, the source disclosed.

In connection with the seizure, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Manipur has written and submitted a report to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.

The response of CEC is expected by tonight, the source said.

However, it declined to comment on the content of the report submitted to the CEC.

Meanwhile, information received from State Election Office conveyed that Expenditure Observers and Income Tax officials who have been deputed by the Election Commission have been closely monitoring transaction of money through various banks.

The officials have been doing round of the banks every day to check accounts related to major money transaction and in case of any suspicion, the houses of the account holders are raided.

It may be recalled here that sometime earlier; IT officials seized Rs 60 lakh from a person at Imphal Airport.

The seized amount has not been released by the Election Commission so far.

On the other hand, an official team led by an Election Observer today reportedly conducted raid in the neighbouring house of a candidate contesting election in Thongju Assembly Constituency in the evening today.

Deputy Commissioner of Imphal West district also arrived at the spot.

But the owner of the house, who was infuriated over the raid, strewed Charcoal bags kept in the house for selling.

On realizing that wrong information had been given to them, the official team apologized to the house owner and left.

However, the family members of the raided house and the neighbours declined to give any comment to mediapersons in connection with the incident and detailed information of the same could not be gathered from the election office.

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