Thrissur/ Kalpetta: Income Tax officers are yet to confirm whether the Rs 3 crore unaccounted money seized from two luxury cars with Malappuram registration from here was meant for the election campaign or was on the way to a jewellery shop in Malappuram. Acting on a tip-off, I-T sleuths had seized Rs 3 crores from two luxury cars in Ancheri near Thrissur town at 8.30 p.m. on Monday.
The officer also took into custody two men in connection with the incident, but has not yet revealed their whereabouts as it might adversely affect the investigation. It is learnt from sources close to the department that the officers are in search of three persons, who sourced the money to the handlers. The money was found hidden in a secret box below the handbrake of the cars, officers said.
The officials first intercepted the Malappuram registration car carrying money and then got information from the car driver about the other car transporting money. Those taken into custody were interrogated at the office of the Income Tax Department in Thrissur. The officers said that if the money was found to be used for election campaign, the report would be submitted to the Election Commission.
Rs 55 Lakh hawala money seized in Lakkidy
The Election special squad constituted to monitor the inflow of money in the election season seized Rs 55 lakh pipe money and took into custody two persons, at Lakkidy, here on Tuesday. The money traffickers were identified as Siddiq and Swalih, both natives of Malappuram.
In another incident an amount of Rs 8 .14 lakh was seized by the squad from a car at Pattikkad in Malappuram. The money was kept hidden in the boot space of the car. Farooq, the driver of the car also was taken into custody. The vechile checking was held by a team ehaded by tahsildars P Jayachandran and M Subramanian.
