Cash seized from house of BJP leader's kin, grabbed from cops

Out of the seized cash, Rs 5.87 lakh was snatched away by some unidentified people in front of the house, the police said. Before the seizure, searches were carried out at three places in the town following information that money meant for distribution to influence voters was kept in the house, said a senior police official.

Hyderabad, Oct 26 (PTI): Ahead of the bypoll to the Dubbak Assembly constituency, police on Monday seized Rs 18.67 lakh in cash from the house of BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao's relative in Siddipet town apparently to influence voters. Out of the seized cash, Rs 5.87 lakh was snatched away by some unidentified people in front of the house, the police said.

Before the seizure, searches were carried out at three places in the town following information that money meant for distribution to influence voters was kept in the house, said a senior police official. When the police and government officials came out of the house, over 250-strong crowd gathered in front of it and started arguing with the police.

It was at that moment, some among the crowd allegedly snatched the money, the police official said. Later, it was found that Rs 5.87 lakh had been taken away, the official said.

The police said theyhave videographed the entire incident wherein some people were seen trying to push the lawmen. A case in this connection is in the process of being registered and the efforts have begun to identify the persons who snatched the money, the police said.

Byelection to the Dubbak Assembly seat is scheduled for November 3. Condemning the checks at the house, state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar said they were against the model code of conduct when the by-election is taking place at Dubbak.

Meanwhile, BJP MLC N Ramachander Rao, in a statement, termed the police raids as political vendetta. Theruling TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) party is using policeout of fear of defeat, he claimed.

Also, he alleged that the police did not issue any notice before conducting the raids. Reacting to this, state Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who is leading the TRS campaign in Dubbak, dismissed the allegations, by saying the BJP was trying to gain sympathy by claiming itself to be a victim.

There is no need for the TRS to trouble the BJP as the latter is fast losing public support, he said..