Department has seized ₹4.13 crore in cash after March 27, when poll dates were announced, and in most cases money was in the denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500

While there are reports of cash shortage in some parts of the country, money seems to be flowing in poll-bound Karnataka, according to the Director-General of Income Tax, Investigation, Karnataka and Goa.

“Though the election process is just beginning, the I-T department has already seized ₹4.13 crore in cash and 4.52 k.g. of gold jewellery valued at ₹1.32 crore. Among the seizures, Bengaluru tops the list with ₹2.47 crore followed by Ballari with ₹55 lakh,” said a statement from the department.

All the seizures were reported after March 27, when the poll dates were announced for Karnataka, sources in the I-T department said.

I-T officials said that cash seizures in most cases were in denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500.

Out of the ₹4.13 crore, ₹4.03 crore was in these higher denominations.

“When people are finding it difficult to withdraw the money from the banks/ATMs, the seizure of these high denominations is raising eyebrows,” said the statement by DG, IT-Investigations.

Contractors under radar

I-T officials have also brought contractors under their radar. Recently, B.R. Balakrishna, DG, I-T-Investigations, wrote to State Chief Secretary Ratnaprabha seeking details of payments to contractors in the last quarter on intelligence reports that payments to contractors were being used for elections. “The Investigation Wing has gathered details of all contract payments made in the last quarter of the financial year and is comparing them with previous years for identifying abnormal cases. It is also co-relating all bank transactions, cash withdrawal with the intelligence in its posession,” the press statement on Friday said.

It was found in one case that a contractor had made payments to another person who, in turn, had withdrawn cash from the amount transferred.

The withdrawn ₹55 lakh was seized and the contractor admitted to concealment of ₹16 crore, the statement said. In another case, household articles worth ₹9.51 crore, intended for distribution, was found in a warehouse near Mysuru. It has been established that this was meant for distribution. The I-T Department has also put all airports and railway stations under their watch. “A person carrying ₹16.5 lakh was intercepted at one airport. Follow-up action was taken in Mumbai and ₹37 lakh in cash was found and seized from the Mumbai premises, taking the total seizure to ₹53.5 lakh,” the statement said.