Election vigilance officials on Tuesday night raided a textile showroom in Udyavara for selling sarees with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Jayalaxmi Silks came under the scanner after a bill declaring, ‘Modi Sari’ was found in the store on Tuesday.
Anitha Bhaskar, Nodal Officer for the Model Code of Conduct in Kaup, said they were tipped off by an informant that sarees with the picture of Modi were being distributed to people in exchange for a token given to them by political leaders.
“When we arrived at the store, we were surrounded by about 15 staff of the showroom who tried to stall our investigation. They even made abusive comments against us declaring that the government officials indulge in such tactics to seek bribe,” she said.
Anitha said, “They sought to know what authority do I have to conducted such a search operation. The staff at the showroom did not cooperate with the officials to carry out search operation.”
Later, Karkala Assistant Superintendent of Police Krishnakanth and Kaup Circle Police Inspector Shantharam arrived at the spot and registered cases against owners Ravindra and Virendra.
During the raid, Nagaraj, officer in the flying squad team was also present.
Though the team found just two such sarees, they suspected that the remaining saris were immediately shifted from the godown of the store.
Police have seized the CCTV footage of the showroom for conducting further investigation.
District Returning Officer Deputy Commissioner
Hephsiba Rani Korlapati has directed officials to conduct further investigation in this regard.