Rs 570 crore drama turns into a comedy of errors in Tamil Nadu

What began as a most intriguing, real-life drama on late on Friday, ended as a comedy and had the country in stitches by Saturday evening. Amazed at the largest-ever seizure of cash in poll-bound Tamil Nadu — a whopping Rs 570 crore stacked in hundreds of bundles in three container lorries — Election Commission officials were beginning to believe they had made the greatest catch of their lives. However, it turned out to be yet another farce courtesy official India when the government claimed the money as legitimately belonging to the State Bank of India.

Touted as the biggest seizure of cash in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, the catch was made after a hot chase in the dead of the night on Friday on a desolate bypass road in true Tamil potboiler gangster film style.

Tamil Nadu’s dubious distinction of emerging at the top in poll-time cash seizures could have hit the sky by the prospect of a Guinness Record, but thankfully the premier bank of the nation saved the state.

“It is a routine transfer of money from chest to chest with all the necessary documents and the clearance from the Reserve Bank of India”, SBI chief general manager Ramesh Babu said.

“The personnel accompanying the three trucks had the required papers for the transfer. The EC wanted some additional documents and we have given that as well.”

They have formed a committee where all these will be placed and hopefully, the trucks will resume journey”.

For the most part of Saturday, since the EC officials ‘tipped off’ their media friends about their ‘biggest pre-poll catch’, there was high excitement in the news rooms that their reporters and camera crew had got the biggest story of this high-stakes election, of course apart from the polling on Monday and the result three days later. The incessant flow of reports from across the state about seizures of cash and gifts allegedly being ferried for pleasing the voters added to this fever. The tally till then stood at Rs.104 crore, a record even in the state which prides itself on being the cash-for-votes capital of the country.

“Actually, we have not seized the money but only detained the three trucks”, explained state chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni about the midnight chase and seizure. “A high-level team (committee) comprising election observers and other senior officials, including income-tax officers, will go through the documents submitted by the SBI and clear them to proceed”, he explained.

Informed sources told this newspaper late night that all the documents were in order and it “is just a matter of a couple of hours” for the EC approval for the trucks to move on. A happy ending for the ‘biggest seizure’ tale but an anti-climax for what could surely have been a page-one screamer.