Lok Sabha Polls 2024 | BJP's Dr Sudhakar booked for ‘attempting to coerce’ IAS officer to release Rs 4.8 crore of unaccounted cash

A case has been registered against BJP Lok Sabha candidate for Chikkaballapur, Dr K Sudhakar, for allegedly asking a poll official to release Rs 4.8 crore of unaccounted-for cash seized by the State Election Commission (SEC). The FIR was filed on Thursday at the Madanayakana Halli police station in Bengaluru Rural.

As per a copy of the FIR seen by DH, the complaint from Dasharatha V Kumbar of the Static Surveillance Team (SST) claimed that after Rs 4.8 crore was seized, district Model Code of Conduct (MCC) nodal officer Munish Moudgil, at around 2.04 pm on April 25, received a WhatsApp call.

"The caller identified himself as Shri Sudhakar and requested that he should be helped in this cash seizure," Kumbar alleged in the police complaint.

The IAS officer also received three subsequent WhatsApp messages from the same phone number: "Madhavara Govindappa IT Team", "Pls help I will be very grateful to you. Regards <Folded Hands Logo>", and "9945141601 Anand Ratkal" (in Kannada).

The complainant said that the same day, between 11.44 and 11.48 am, Moudgil received a complaint that Rs 10 crore was kept at a location to entice voters and misuse it during the polls. The EC officials and Income Tax (I-T) sleuths subsequently found Rs 4.8 crore cash at a house in Madavara village within the Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha segment.

"Prima facie it is found that the cash was kept to distribute to voters as a bribe and misuse it," the FIR noted.

Kumbar said that once Moudgil had received the lead about the unaccounted-for cash and the location, he had informed Anand Ratkal (IRS), who is the I-T nodal officer for Bengaluru Urban district, as per the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), examine the premises and take action as per the law.

Sudhakar has been booked under IPC Sections 171E (punishment for bribery), 171F (punishment for undue influence or personation at an election), 171B (bribery), 171C (undue influence at elections), and 123 (corrupt practices) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act.