Cash and articles worth over ₹152 crore seized in poll-bound Karnataka

The Election Commission on Saturday said the enforcement agencies have so far made progressive seizures of cash and other articles worth over ₹152 crore in the poll-bound Karnataka. While ₹67.27 crore in cash has been seized, the agencies have made a total seizure of gold and silver worth more than ₹43 crore from different parts of the State. Liquor consignments worth ₹23.36 crore have also been impounded. Of the total amount, the Income-Tax Department has seized ₹20.43 crore in cash. The Department had earlier conducted searches against an election candidate after verification of the affidavit filed by him. The candidate had not filed Income-Tax Returns since 2012-13. In his affidavit, he claimed that the online filing of his returns had been blocked and that, he had only paid self-assessment tax. Serious discrepancies in the income declared by his wife were also detected. Based on intelligence inputs, in the last week of April, the Income-Tax Department also conducted searches against several government contractors and seized huge amounts of unexplained cash from them. Source: The Hindu