Over Rs four lakh seized in Ampati

More than Rs four lakh were seized from a vehicle in Ampati Assembly constituency where model code of conduct is in force for the May-28 bypoll, the police said.

A sum of Rs 4,29,800 was seized from a person in the vehicle near Garobadha village by a team comprising election officials, static surveillance teams, police and a magistrate on Saturday, they said.

The person, a village employment council secretary, claimed that he was carrying the money for distribution under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Income Tax officials will question the person carrying the cash to ascertain from where he got the cash, officials said.

Election Code of Conduct mandates that cash above Rs 50,000 cannot be carried at one time.

The by-election to Ampati seat has been necessitated after former chief minister, Mukul Sangma, gave up the seat, having won both from Ampati and Songsak in the Assembly polls.