Vigilance officials in Maharashtra on Thursday seized Rs 91.5 lakh from a vehicle belonging to Maharashtra Cooperative Minister Subhash Deshmukh in Osmanabad district. The team set up to prevent illegal activities during the civic body elections in the area seized the cash – in denominations of demonetised Rs 1,000 notes – after conducting a search of the vehicle, ANI reported.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested after he was unable to provide answers regarding the large sum of money in it, the report said. A case was registered at the Omerga police station in the district.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have demanded Deshmukh’s resignation and also sought an inquiry into bank transactions of state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders by the Income Tax Department, PTI reported. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the seizure of the money proved that BJP leaders “are in possession of black money”. “Since the government has launched a campaign against black money and corruption, properties of BJP leaders should be searched to unearth black money,” Malik said.
A Congress spokesperson claimed that old currency notes worth over Rs 6 crore were seized from the brother of a BJP MLA in western Maharashtra a few days after the Centre’s demonetisation announcement. Deshmukh did not issue a comment on the matter, according to the report.
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