I-T to probe Rs 5.34 mn cash found from NCP MLA's aide's home

The Income Tax (I-T) Department will probe the recovery of Rs 5.34 million in cash from a private residence which was visited under strange circumstances by an undertrial Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator, Ramesh Kadam, officials said here on Saturday.

Since the seizure falls under the category of 'unaccounted cash', the state election authorities have handed over the case to the I-T Department for further probe into its antecedents, an official told IANS on Saturday.

After Kadam complained of chest pain and giddiness on Friday, he was escorted by a police team from the Thane Central Jail to the J.J. Hospital in south Mumbai. However, the doctors found nothing wrong with Kadam and allowed him to go back.

On the return trip to the prison, Kadam -- a legislator from Mohol in Solapur -- reportedly begged the police to take him briefly to meet a friend in a flat on Ghodbunder Road and they obliged.

At the flat, the five-member police escort team sensed something suspicious and searched the premises to recover a carry-bag containing the cash.

They immediately alerted the Kasarvadavli Police Station and the election authorities, who reached the flat belonging to a person called Raju G. Khare.

It is not clear why the police escort team flouted jail rules by conceding to Kadam's plea for a visit to the private flat though there were no specific orders passed in this regard. A department enquiry has been ordered against the police personnel.

Kadam, who was arrested in June 2015 for his role in financial irregularities in the state-run Annabhau Sathe Financial Development Corporation, is contesting as an Independent candidate from Mohol in the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
IANS