Ranchi: Over Rs 2 crore was on Friday seized allegedly from a car owned by the younger brother of an independent Rajya Sabha candidate, after which the Election Commission ordered that vote count be stopped till a probe was completed into the seizure.
"The cash was seized near Rampur haat under Namkum police station between 6.30 AM and 7 AM from the car," Income Tax department`s Jharkhand Director Ajay Kumar said. "The car belongs to Suresh Agarwal, younger brother of (independent RS candidate) R K Agarwal while the cash came from his relative Praskash Khemani`s place at Jamshedpur," he added.
R K Agarwal is one of the independent candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections for two seats in Jharkhand which were scheduled today. Following interrogation of Suresh Agarwal and another person, Kumar said it was allegedly revealed that the cash had come from Khemani`s place.
"Prakash Khemani is related to R K Agarwal. We have launched raids in his place," Kumar said. He said some names of legislators were also found in the vehicle`s car.
The Election Commission in Delhi ordered that counting of votes in Jharkhand be not taken up till a probe is done to asertain if the money seized was in any way linked to R K Agarwal, EC sources in Delhi said.
K K Prasad, Returning Officer of Jharkhand RS poll, said "we are yet to get any order from Delhi to start vote counting".
PTI