By IANS,
Hyderabad : A day after Rs.7 crore was seized from two vehicles owned by Telugu Desam Party’s Peram Haribabu, the leader Thursday denied that the money belonged to him, while the ruling Congress alleged the funds were meant for upcoming bypolls in Telangana.
Haribabu told reporters that the money seized by police from his two vehicles belonged to his two friends.
The cash was seized by police Wednesday in Kadiri mandal of Anantapur district from a Tata Safari and a Scorpio owned by Haribabu.
Police arrested five people including Haribabu’s father Ramakrishna Naidu.
As the police launched a probe, the TDP leader from Chittoor district met Anantapur Superintendent of Police M.K. Sinha.
After the meeting, Haribabu said he had given his vehicles to his friends who withdrew the money from a bank in Hospet in Karnataka and were going to Tirupati for buying a vehicle.
Meanwhile, police produced five accused, including Haribabu’s father, in a court in Kadiri.
Superintendent of Police Sinha told reporters that the income tax department would conduct a probe into the source of the money and will ascertain whether it was black money.
Tax department officials Thursday conducted searches at the residence of Haribabu, a mine owner, in Tirupati.
Congress leaders alleged that the TDP had mobilised the money for use in the upcoming by-polls to 12 assembly seats in the Telangana region.