Cash, liquor, drugs seized from Bengal, Tamil Nadu (Representative Photo)

Cash, liquor, drugs worth over Rs 1,000 crore seized in Bengal, Tamil Nadu

Both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 23, with West Bengal scheduled for another round (phase 2 of polling) on April 29.

by · India Today

In Short

  • 5,011 flying squads and 5,363 static teams involved in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu
  • Cash seized totals Rs 127.67 crore, mostly from Tamil Nadu
  • Over 40 lakh litres of alcohol and Rs 215 crore of precious metals recovered

In a major enforcement drive, special teams deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have seized cash, liquor, precious metals, narcotics, drugs, and freebies valued at over 1,072.13 crore.

As per the latest notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), more than 5,011 flying squad teams (2,728 in Bengal and 2,283 in Tamil Nadu) and over 5,363 static surveillance teams (3,142 in Bengal and 2,221 in Tamil Nadu) have combinedly seized Rs 127.67 crore in cash from both states, with Rs 100.19 crore coming from Tamil Nadu and Rs 27.48 crore coming from West Bengal.

In alcohol, these teams recovered a total of 40,49,176 litres, with 39,31,463 litres seized from West Bengal and 1,17,713 litres from Tamil Nadu.

The poll body further wrote that intensive monitoring led to the recovery of precious metals worth Rs 215.19 from the two states. From Tamil Nadu, metals worth Rs 159.31 crore have been seized, while the remaining Rs 55.88 crore worth of metals came from Bengal.

Other than the cash, alcohol, and metals, the security teams also got a breakthrough in the seizure of narcotic substances and freebies. The teams seized a total of Rs 437.97 crore freebie items ( Rs 178.83 crore from West Bengal and Rs 259.14 crore from Tamil Nadu). A total of Rs 184.83 crore worth of narcotic substances were also seized (Rs 108.11 crore from Bengal and Rs 76.72 crore from Tamil Nadu).

The commission further wrote in the notification that these teams were deployed in the two states after it held high-level meetings with Chief Secretaries, senior police officials, and enforcement heads to ensure inducement-free elections.

Both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 23, with West Bengal scheduled for another round (phase 2 of polling) on April 29.

- Ends