Lok Sabha polls: Gold, cash worth Rs 140 crore seized in Bengal this month

The EC also seized 1.27 million liters of alcohol with a market value of Rs 33.86 million. (representative)

Kolkata:

Gold, drugs, alcohol and various commodities worth about Rs 140 crore and over Rs 7 crore in cash have been seized in West Bengal since the dates for the Lok Sabha polls were announced this month, an official said on Saturday.

The amount of cash seized as of Saturday was around Rs 787 crore, according to data released by the Election Commission.

The EC also seized 1.27 million liters of alcohol with a market value of Rs 338.6 million, he added.

“Drugs weighing around 3.5 kg and worth Rs 182.8 crore were also seized,” he said.

The investigating agency also seized gold worth Rs 2,732 crore during this period, the official said.

“So far, we have also seized goods worth around Rs 36 crore, taking the total seizure to Rs 147.19 crore, including unaccounted cash,” he added.

For years, there has been a trend of using money and alcohol to buy votes.

The Election Commission has declared six Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal as “financially sensitive”.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata police on Friday seized about 15 kilograms of gold bars worth Rs 82 lakh and arrested five people traveling in the vehicle during a Nagorno-Karabakh check in the Cholabagan area in the north of the city, a police officer said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the gold bars were smuggled from neighboring Bangladesh through the border area in North 24 Parganas district, he added.

“The gold bars appear to have been smuggled across the Bangladesh border. We are trying to identify if the consignment belongs to any agent belonging to a gold smuggling gang in Kolkata,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)