Ahead Of Elections, Enforcement Agencies Swing Into Action To Curb Illegal Cash Flow

Enforcement agencies have swung into action and are keeping a close check on the use of money ahead of the general elections starting next month.

Apart from the Income-Tax department, which is monitoring the use of cash, indirect tax officials have also been asked to monitor such developments.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has asked its officials to keep a close tab on the illicit movement of goods, including liquor and gold, across the country.

“All-out efforts should be made to detect and seize illicit currency, liquor, gold, fake Indian currency notes, NDPS, and other contraband items,” the CBIC said in a recent missive to its field officials, adding that strict vigil should be maintained on domestic and cross-border movement of vehicles, trains, private chartered flights, and commercial flights.

It has also asked officials to step up the “preventive vigilance mechanism” to rule out illicit movement of currency and commodities, and report seizure/ detection on real-time basis with the board and other government agencies as well.

The move follows a meeting called by the Election Commission of India of the Multi-Departmental Committee on Election Intelligence earlier this month.

The ECI had stressed on the need to monitor the election expenditure monitoring mechanism, with its two thrust areas of keeping track of the legal expenditure incurred by candidates and political parties.

The first phase of Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 11 for polling for 91 seats. Meanwhile, sources said that along with Income-Tax officials, bankers have also been instructed to monitor deposit and withdrawal of large quantities of cash at sensitive branches. Earlier, the Central Board of Direct Taxes set up 25 control rooms across the country, which will be working 24x7 to check the flow of unaccounted money during the elections.