Police seize Rs 8 crore cash belonging to BJP's Telangana unit

Police Monday seized Rs 8 crore in cash belonging to the BJP's Telangana unit and alleged that the amount was withdrawn from a bank without following the Election Commission's guidelines and due procedures.

However, the BJP refuted the charge and alleged it was clearly over-action and political conspiracy by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

"We strongly condemn this behavior. The BJP has not broken any law and did not violate any guidelines of the Election Commission," BJP's Telangana State chief spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said, reacting to the cash seizure.

According to a senior police official, based on information a police team intercepted a car in Narayanguda here and found two people in possession of Rs 2 crore.

During questioning, they revealed that the cash was handed over to them by N Gopi, an office assistant of the BJP, and some more money was available with him at the bank, the official said.

A police team went to the bank and found Gopi in possession of Rs 6 crore along with four other people, the official said.

The total amount of Rs 8 crore was seized as no valid documents (letter from EC) were shown and moreover no proper procedure was followed on cash withdrawal from the bank, the police official said.

Along with the seized cash the seven people were subsequently handed over to the Income Tax Department, the official added.

On the other hand, the BJP leader said: "We were drawing our own cash from our own office account from a bank through cheque and when it was being transported to our office the police intervened and broke the window panes of the vehicle and resorted to over-action and took our money to the police station."