I-T Dept raid: Over Rs 10 lakh seized from former BJP worker in Gujarat

Cash worth Rs 10.5 lakh in defunct notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was seized from a former BJP corporator near Saswad, 30 km from Ahmedabad, police said on Saturday.

The amount was seized from Ujjwal Keskar, a former BJP corporator from Pune, when he was on the way to Baramati with three others on Friday, they said. Keskar, however claimed the cash was legitimate. "A team of State Election Commission and police seized the cash worth Rs 10.5 lakh, all in scrapped notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, belonging to Keskar. Income Tax Department has been notified," an officer from Saswad police station said. Municipal council polls are being held in Pune district this month. Meanwhile, Keskar told PTI on Saturday that the cash was legitimate.

"Me and my associates were on the way to my village near Baramati. After visiting my village, we were supposed to go to Panchgani. Since banks in the city are crowded, I thought I will deposit the cash in a bank in Panchgani, where I have account and hence I was carrying the cash with me," he claimed. He claimed that he had the documents to prove the cash was legitimate. "I have handed over the documents to the IT officials and soon truth will come out," he added.