India News | Ahead of Assembly Bypolls, 2 Held with Rs 25 Lakh in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Oct 27 (PTI) Ahead of assembly bypolls in Gujarat, the Bharuch district police on Tuesday detained two persons with unaccounted cash of Rs 25 lakh allegedly meant to be delivered to Congress candidate from the Karjan seat Kiritsinh Jadeja, said officials.

The two were identified as Vadodara residents Dipaksinh Chauhan and Ravi Mokaria, said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jambusar division, A G Gohil.

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However, the Gujarat Congress rejected the police claim that the cash was meant for Jadeja and alleged they were trying to malign his image at the BJP's behest.

The duo was stopped during a routine vehicle check at Mulad toll booth on NH 48 near Jambusar town of Bharuch when they were going towards Vadodara from Surat in their car on Tuesday evening, said Gohil.

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We found a bag containing Rs 25 lakh in cash from their car. They told us the cash was meant to be delivered to Kiritsinh Jadeja, the Congress candidate from Karjan in Vadodara district.

"The duo said the cash was given to them by a Surat resident, Jayanti Suhagiya, Gohil told reporters.

Since we suspect that the cash is unaccounted for, we have seized it and informed the Income-Tax department.

"We have also informed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat and the collector and district election officer of Vadodara about the seizure, he said Gohil.

He said further investigation into the case will be carried out by the Special Operations Group of the Bharuch police.

Karjan is one of the eight assembly seats going to bypolls on November 3.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi claimed the police were working at the behest of the BJP to malign the image of its candidate from Karjan.

"The BJP is rattled because the Congress candidate is winning in Karjan. The police are working at the behest of the ruling party to malign the image of our candidate.

"The police should focus more on maintaining law and order instead of blindly following orders from (state capital) Gandhinagar," said Doshi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)