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Half burnt cash seized from gutted truck in Qazigund, Mehbooba seeks probe
A police officer said that there was a possibility that some notes might have been taken away by the locals who had assembled there to put out the flames .
A day ahead of polls in south Kashmir’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, a truck carrying some cash caught fire in Qazigund prompting former chief minister and Peoples’ Democratic Party candidate Mehbooba Mufti to call for an investigation.
Police said that they received information about a scrap laden truck caught fire mysteriously at Panzeth Qazigund in south Kashmir.
“Some 10-12 half burnt currency notes were also recovered from the truck. We have registered an FIR and detained the driver and the helper,” said a police officer of Qazigund police station.
He said that there was a possibility that some notes might have been taken away by the locals who had assembled there to put out the flames.
With the constituency going to polls in three phases with the first phase slated for Tuesday, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti described the incident as alarming .
“Alarming. Authorities must conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain how & why trucks are being used to carry cash for poll distribution. That too a day right before Anantnag votes. This is a good lesson to those who think votes can be purchased by bribes,” Mufti tweeted.
“Election Commission of India should look into it that how money is used in Jammu and Kashmir to ruin the elections and action should be taken against the party responsible for this,” she later told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Kulgam.
It was not yet clear whether the cash had any connection with the upcoming polls in the constituency.
In the first phase, district Anantnag of the constituency spread over six assembly segments - comprising Anantnag, Dooru, Kokernag, Shangus, Bijbehara and Pahalgam – is going to polls on Tuesday. The second phase will be held on April 29 and the third phase on May 6.
Mehbooba Mufti is pitched against Ghulam Ahmad Mir of the Congress and Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference. Sofi Yousuf of Bhartiya Janta Party is also in the fray.
