Rs 55 crore cash, jewellery and liquor seized ahead of elections in Telangana

Telangana is going to polls on December 7 and the cash and liquor haul a month ahead of the elections is massive.

The cash haul is significantly more this year, police said. (File photo)

The run up to the Telangana elections is witnessing a record-breaking cash and liquor haul.

Ever since the election announcement, a whopping over Rs 55.85 crore cash has been seized by the police and income tax department across the state.

In 2014, during the simultaneous assembly and Parliamentary elections, officials had seized Rs 76 crore.

Authorities have also seized 1.57 lakh litre of liquor worth Rs 3.50 crore apart from gold and silver worth over Rs 1.30 crore from across the state.

In Hyderabad, the city police have recovered over Rs 8 crore cash over the past one month and seized 1,616 litre of liquor.

Speaking to India Today, city police chief Anjani Kumar admitted that there was a high flow of money ahead of the crucial election. Kumar, however, assured that his team is keeping a vigil and with the help of paramilitary forces, a free and fair election will be ensured.

We have recovered Rs 8 crore cash while 3 cars and 3 bikes have also been seized. Silver and gold was also seized by the law and order department. During the 2015 elections, cash seizure was at Rs 12 lakh, which is far less than what it is this time, said Anjani Kumar.

Hyderabad, which is witnessing a high decibel campaign, also recorded 33 cases of poll code violation, which has 16 full and three partial assembly constituencies.

Overall, 82 cases of poll code violations were registered across the state.

The city police have planned a three-layer security at 15 counting centres established at 13 locations in the city for the December 7 voting day.