Udupi, Nov 3: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Udupi have detained three persons on the charge of illegally carrying Rs. 1.65 crore cash aboard the Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram Netravati Express.
The accused have been identified as Prakash Kumar, Jaswant Singh (both from Rajasthan), and Ganesh from Sangli, Maharashtra. The three were travelling to Kannur.
A travelling ticket examiner (TTE) found the behaviour of the youths suspicious and tipped off the RPF personnel about them. The RPF carried out a search operation in the train and found three persons carrying cash amounting to Rs. 1.65 core in two shoulder bags in coach B3 of Train No: 16345.
They were taken into custody around 4.30 a.m. and handed over to the railway police. The local Manipal police were also informed about it.
Since a parliamentary byelection is on for the Shivamogga seat and the amount seized was over Rs. 50,000, the Income Tax Department was informed about it. Officials of the department are looking into the matter.
Sources in district police said it was suspected to be a hawala transaction related to gold because of the Kannur-Sangli link. In such cases, the smuggled gold is sold at a lower cost around Sangli, parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Whether the money was meant for the elections will be known only after the investigation by the I-T Department, sources said.
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