An amount of Rs 6,72, 830 in cash was seized by the in-charge of Borghat police outpost, Dipjyoti Bharali near Kaliabhomora bridge in Sonitpur district of Assam on Friday evening.
The seizure was made during regular vehicular checking that has been put in place to keep close watch on movement of cash, goods during the period of election, official sources said on Sunday.
The amount was seized from a Maruti 800 ALTO car and the person in the vehicle claimed the amount belonged to a business firm based in Tezpur.
Due to lack of valid supporting documents, the police officials seized the vehicle and as per instruction of the District Election Officer sent the money to the treasury office at Tezpur.
The amount was counted in the presence of circle officer (A) Akashdeep Kakoty, ALRS, Treasury officer Tarun Saikia and members of a flying squad. The owners have been asked to produce relevant documents to claim the money back and inquiries are underway.
As per guidelines of the ECI, during the electioneering phase, the general public have to possess valid documents if they are carrying cash above Rs 50,000 and news articles and gifts worth over Rs 10,000. Unexplained cash above Rs 50,000 will be seized immediately and released only when it is proved that it is not related to the elections in any way.
Moreover, a seizure release committee has been constituted for Tezpur Election District with chief executive officer, Zilla Parishad, Ramen Malakar, ACS, district development commissioner and nodal officer, expenditure monitoring cell, Md Farouk Alam, ACS and district Treasury officer as members.
The committee will examine each case of seizure and where the seizure is not related to any candidate or political party, take immediate steps to order release of such cash as per SOP issued by the ECI.
