Balasore, May 31: The police along with a flying squad team seized Rs 1.18 lakh cash from the Mission Shakti office building on the block office premises in Remuna in Odisha's Balasore district on Friday evening, on the eve of last phase of twin polls in the State. The seized money was linked to ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), sources said.

According to sources, some Self Help Group (SHG) women members led by BLF president Chanparani Sen were allegedly distributing money in the Mission Shakti office building in Remuna this evening.

The BJP workers alerted the police in this regard.

Subsequently, the local police and the flying squad reached the Mission Shakti building, conducted raids and seized money amounting to Rs 1,18,000 from the spot.

The currency notes of Rs 500 denomination were kept in several envelopes and the names of various panchayats were written in the said envelopes.

However, the SHG women managed to flee from the spot.

Later, Balasore MP and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Pratap Chandra Sarangi reached the spot and hit out at the Naveen Patnaik government over the seizure of a large amount of cash from Mission Shakti office.

Sarangi accused the ruling BJD of using the SHG members under the state government’s Mission Shakti for allegedly trying to distribute money to voters.

The BJP leader also urged the Election Commission to take stringent action against Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, his close aide VK Pandian and former MIssion Shakti Director Sujata R Kartikeyan in this connection.

Notably, voting for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections is being held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1.

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