Rs 80 crore pumped in to bribe voters in R K Nagar, IT raids reveal

On Friday nearly 100 taxmen descended upon Tamil Nadu and conducted a raid at various places after allegations of over Rs 80 crore being spent on the R K Nagar by-polls were made. The raiding team said that there was specific input that huge chunks of black money was in circulation and this was meant to be paid to the voters of R K Nagar, the constituency held by former Tamil Nadu chief minister, J Jayalalithaa.

The raids were conducted in 30 places including the residence of Tamil Nadu minister Vijaybhaskar and actor Sarath Kumar. IT officials say that Rs 2 lakh in cash was seized from the minister's house which included money kept to buy voters. The total haul was Rs 5 crore which included the cash seized from the minister's associates, the taxmen also said.

The taxmen got into action after a video of the Sasikala faction members bribing voters in R K Nagar had surfaced. In the video, a man is seen paying Rs 4,000 to voters and asking them to vote for the Sasikala faction's candidate T T V Dinakaran.

IT officials say that almost Rs 80 crore was set aside to be paid to the voters in R K Nagar. Incriminating evidence pointing towards the flow of unaccounted cash has been seized by the IT department. The documents are being scrutinised and IT officials would also submit a report to the Election Commission of India. The ECI would decide on whether the elections must be held on April 12 or countermanded.

OneIndia News