The opposition party says it is difficult to believe the claims of SBI that the money belonged to it and sent a memorandum to the prime minister seeking a CBI/ED investigation into the cash seizure

The mystery over the Rs 570 crore seized by the election commission flying squad continues with no concrete answers to the puzzle – who owns the cash.

The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has expressed serious doubts about the whole issue and has urged the prime minister Narendra Modi to order a CBI probe in to the recovery of Rs 570 crore being transported in three containers near Tirupur, before the just concluded Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

DMK expressed serious doubts over the claims of SBI on the ownership of the money.

“Serious doubt arises about the genuineness of the claims of the officials of the State Bank of India over the Rs 570 crore,” DMK leader T K S Elangovan said in a memorandum sent to Modi, a copy of which was released to media.

On the midnight of May 13, three days before the polling for TN elections, the election commission flying squad detected three containers carrying huge amount of cash. As the people accompanying the containers failed to give satisfactory explain, the trucks were seized and kept for few days in Tirupur collectorate office before it was sent to SBI treasury in Coimbatore.

“We request the Prime Minister to kindly interfere and direct the CBI and Enforcement Directorate authorities to conduct an impartial, independent, thorough and transparent investigation,” DMK spokesperson Elangovan said.

The memorandum of the DMK has also been sent to union home minister Rajanath Singh, chief election commissioner Nazim Zaidi, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and chiefs of tax authorities.

In Tamil Nadu, cash for votes has been a serious problem that the election commission is grappling with and it had seized over Rs 100 crore in cash from different political party representatives. But it is just a tip of the iceberg said MG Devasahayam, campaigner for cleaner elections, said, adding that unless elections are countermanded in case where money has been distributed, political parties will continue to misuse money power.

The three truck loads of money was for distribution among voters, is the believe o the people. Not many are willing to believe the SBI claim that it was the bank’s money that was under routine transfer to another state.