After the Lok Sabha elections were announced on March 16, enforcement agencies have seized ₹33.31-crore worth of cash and other items in inspections, Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul said on Thursday.
The seized items include unaccounted cash, alcohol, other narcotic substances, precious metals, including gold, and items intended for free distribution, Mr. Kaul said. The inspections were carried out by agencies, including the State police, Income Tax department, Excise department, SGST Division, Directorate of Enforcement, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and the Narcotics Control Bureau.
Items seized in the inspections by various agencies include ₹6.67 crore in unaccounted cash, 28,867 litres of alcohol worth ₹1 crore, narcotic drugs weighing 2,33,723 gm valued at ₹6.13 crore, precious metals worth ₹ 14.91 crore, and items allegedly meant for free distribution valued at ₹4.58 crore.
The DRI seized items worth ₹9.14 crore, while the police seized items valued at ₹8.89 crore, and the Excise department items worth ₹ 7.11 crore.
On March 23, a joint inspection by the DRI and the Air Intelligence Unit at the Calicut International Airport resulted in the seizure of 5.26 kg of gold worth ₹3.41 crore.
Mr. Kaul said inspections would continue in the coming days as the code of conduct for the elections was in effect. The Election Commission had appointed static surveillance teams and flying squads and expenditure observers in all the districts. Additionally, CCTV cameras had been installed at inter-State border roads. Real-time monitoring was being conducted from the control room set up at the office of the CEO (Kerala).
