Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly Elections, the hunt for the secretary of the Indian National Congress party has intensified after the Police and the Election Commission’s team discovered Rs. 75 lakh cash from a car parked at Rangrej Tower near Jadakhadi Mohalla in Mahidhar Pura area of Surat City.
According to reports, Congress leader BM Sandeep had rushed to the Angadiya (courier) firm headquarters in the car to collect Rs. 75 lakh in cash. However, he fled from the spot after the Static Surveillance team (SST) intercepted the car with three occupants.
The CCTV footage showing BM Sandeep running on the streets appeared on social media on Thursday while the local police and the Income Tax agency began an investigation into the case. As per the Twitter bio of BM Sandeep, he is from Chikmagalur and is the Congress party’s Secretary and also in charge of the Gujarat Congress. He was the AICC secretary of the Congress party’s Maharashtra section and the former national convener of the RGPS Karnataka.
सूरत – 75 लाख छोड़ कर भागे, कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय सचिव बीएम संदीप सूरत के महीधरपुर इलाक़े से आँगडिया से 75 लाख रुपये लेने पहुँचे थे, पुलिस देख कर भागे लेकिन सीसीटीवी में तस्वीरें क़ैद हो गई, मामले की जाँच में स्थानीय पुलिस, इनकम टैक्स और ईडी जुटी है.#GujratElection2022 pic.twitter.com/4edyDyKH5G
— Vikas Bhadauria (@vikasbha) November 24, 2022
The Election Commission’s Static team was doing normal checks in the Mahidharpura region when Rs. 74.80 lakh cash was seized from an Innova vehicle registered under name ‘Vinayak Travels’. While the driver and another young person have been detained, the other person present at the scene managed to escape. The vehicle had Maharashtra RTO approval. Officials also said they found leaflets of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Surat rally from the vehicle beside a VIP car pass bearing the name of BM Sandeep. The cash retrieved from the car was tallied and verified by police officers.
The inspection began at about 11.30 pm when the car MH 04 ES 9907 arrived. The police detained the driver and two more people, but one of them got away and fled the scene. One of the detained youngsters was identified as Uday Gurjar from Delhi, while the other has been identified as Muhammad Faiz from Surat. The one who fled the scene later was identified as Congress leader BM Sandeep from Karnataka.
BM Sandeep, National Secretary of Congress, had come to collect 75 lakhs from Angadiya but ran away after seeing the police. This happened in Mahidharpur area of Surat but visuals of his cowardice got captured on CCTV cameras.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 24, 2022
He didn’t follow Rahul Gandhi’s “Daro Mat” mantra. pic.twitter.com/PIMJKj6gLV
During interrogation, the driver told police that the destination of the journey was Shri Ram Angadiya Pedhi in the Mahidharpura region, from where money was to be acquired and transferred to the individual whose name and location were to be transmitted over the phone yet.
Meanwhile, Surat Congress leader Naishadh Desai has denounced any link between the Congress party and the money recovered. According to the Congress website, BM Sandeep Kumar is the Congress party’s Secretary in charge of Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu. However, Naishadh Desai branded this as a “conspiracy” and stated that nothing is obvious from the video, neither the location nor the face of the person running on the street.
Gujarat which has 182 assembly constituencies will go for polling in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will occur on December 8, which coincides with Himachal Pradesh’s result date.
