EC seizes Rs 5l from 3 at Charkop, investigation on

Charkop Police trapped three men, including two businessmen and recovered cash worth Rs 5 lakh from them, in the denomination of Rs 50 and Rs 20 on Thursday.

The police received a tipoff, based on which a trap was laid and the trio was caught red handed. Police have handed over the trio to the Election duty officer for further probe.

Police received a tip-off on Thursday about three men arriving near Oscar Hospital at Kandivli (W) with huge sums of cash.

Acting on this information, Charkop Police laid a trap near the hospital at Hindustan Naka and deployed policemen in civil clothes. Around 3pm, three men— Sameer Shete (50), Akhlal Shaikh (49) and Jitendra Panigrahi (35), walked into the trap and were caught by police.

When intercepted the trio, police checked their bag and found Rs 5 lakh in denomination of Rs 50 and Rs 20.

Police quizzed the trio why were they carrying such a huge amount in cash, to which the trio replied they were taking the money to a friend whose mother was admitted in a hospital.

Shete, a real estate consultant from Nashik, while Shaikh is a garment trader from Jogeshwari, who said that they are not connected to any political party and were taking the money to help a friend.

Police did not find the answer satisfactory and suspected it to be fishy, following which they alerted the Returning Officer of the Election Commission (EC), who seized the cash. The investigation was later transferred to the EC.

The trio was not arrested and no case was registered, said police.

A diary entry was made about this incident and the EC will probe the matter further, to ascertain the source of the money.