PWD officer caught carrying Rs 10.5 lakh in cash at Vidhana Soudha

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The city police seized Rs 10.5 lakh in cash from a junior engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD), while he was carrying the unauthorised money in a bag on the Vidhana Soudha premises on Wednesday evening.

The official, identified as Jagadish, was stopped at the west gate of Vidhana Soudha and a considerable amount of cash was found during the checks around 7 pm.

However, as he did not have convincing replies on the source of the money or why he was carrying it, the police confiscated the cash. Confirming the reporters on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Division, Srinivas Gowda said, “During regular frisking, about Rs 10.5 lakh was found in a bag of a government employee. When questioned, he said he had to go to the Mandya district and was a junior engineer at the PWD there.

He claimed to have come to Vidhana Soudha as he had some work. The cash was handed over to the Vidhana Soudha police station and later deposited in the court. We have registered a case and asked him to produce relevant documents. We are conducting further inquiries," he said.

According to sources, the official was going to meet one of the ministers at the Vidhana Soudha. An investigation is underway to determine the reason for carrying such a large amount of cash and to whom it would be delivered.