Rs 10 million political donation of Visakha asbestos company seized in Telangana town headed for By-election
Gopal Krishna
Two people have been detained and ₹ 1 crore has been seized while being transported illegally allegedly for use in the Dubbak bypoll in Telangana, scheduled on Tuesday. The accused includes Surabhi Srinivas Rao, brother-in-law of the BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao.
The Commissioner's Task Force, North Zone team along with Begumpet Police, busted the "illegal transport" of ₹ 1 crore near Begumpet flyover. Sources said the money being taken in a Toyota Innova was allegedly to be distributed to voters.
The two accused are businessman Surabhi Srinivas Rao, 47, and T Ravi Kumar, 33, the driver of the SUV.
The seized currency notes are of denominations ₹ 500 and ₹ 2,000.
"The (seized) mobile phones have revealed a lot of information that directly links the cash seized to the BJP candidate in Dubbaka," Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said.
The accused Surabhi Srinivas Rao lives in Hyderabad, and runs a "technical manpower supply business" called A to Z Solutions Ltd.
Investigators said the money was collected by Surabhi Srinivas Rao from Vishaka Industries' office in at Begumpet, Secunderabad in order to deliver at Dubbaka for distribution to voters.
A manager of Vishaka Industries, owned by G Vivek Venkata Swamy, the former MP of Peddapally, allegedly handed over the cash to him to transport from Hyderabad to Dubbaka. The seized property and the accused have been handed over to Begumpet police station for further investigation.
There have been at least five instances of unaccounted cash seized in the last 10 days, allegedly linked to the bypolls.