Indian politician targeted with baseless 'cash raid' claim ahead of election

A police spokesman refuted rumours that authorities seized millions of dollars in cash from the car of Indian politician Sudhir Gadgil shortly before the country's marathon general election that started on April 19. Facebook posts sharing the baseless claim showed photos of cash seized in two separate incidents -- in 2016 from a vehicle reportedly belonging to a bank managed by Gadgil's brother and in 2017 from the home of a Delhi stock broker.

"New currency worth 20,000 crore rupees (2.4 million dollars) was seized from the car of BJP MLA Sudhir Gadgil," read a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on April 12, 2024.

Sudhir Gadgil is a lawmaker from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representing the Sangli legislative seat of western Maharashtra state. 

"Congratulations to Modi," the post added sarcastically, referring to the BJP's leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Spread this news like wildfire as the Indian media won't show this."

The post shows a photo of cash stuffed into boxes and a group of men, including a uniformed police officer, standing by a vehicle.

Similar Facebook posts circulated here and here as nearly a billion Indians prepared to cast their votes in six-week-long marathon parliamentary polls starting on April 19, the largest democratic exercise in the world.

The movement of cash, liquor and other goods is under strict vigil by authorities during the polling period, as per election commission rules to avoid freebies that could be used to influence voters (archived link). 

Some Facebook users appeared to believe the false claim that the photos showed Sudhir Gadgil caught with a large quantity of cash.

"Bhartiya Janata Party is buying votes using this money," one comment read.

"Election Commission should take strict action on this and BJP leaders in other states should be investigated," another wrote.

'No such case'

However, a spokesman for Sangli police said the posts were baseless.

"No such case has been registered against Sudhir Gadgil at present," Sangli Superintendent of Police Basavaraj Teli told AFP on May 9, 2024.

Furthermore, the posts shared photos of two separate cash seizures in 2016 and 2017.

A reverse image search on Google found the photo of men standing next to a vehicle in an article about cash seized from a vehicle in Maharashtra in November 2016.

Officials from the district election squad found 60 million rupees (720,000 dollars) in 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in a vehicle during a check ahead of local elections in the state, India's ABP News reported (archived link).

Below is the screenshot comparison of the photo shared in false posts (left) and the ABP News image (right):

The Indian government had announced the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000-rupee notes the week before the cash was seized, the Indian Express reported (archived link).

The vehicle carrying the cash belonged to an urban cooperative bank whose chief Ganesh Gadgil is the brother of BJP politician Sudhir Gadgil, the report said.

It quoted the bank saying in a statement that the cash was being transported to its headquarters in Sangli, as nationalised and private banks had refused to accept it.

2017 image

A reverse image search on Google found the photo of cash in boxes in an article about the discovery of more than one million dollars in cash at the home of a stock broker in 2017.

The Income Tax department seized 110 million rupees ($1.3 million) in cash during the raid at the Delhi residence of Sanjay Gupta, a broker from the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Times of India reported (archived link).

Authorities raided more than 50 premises around the country as part of their investigation into Gupta's firm early access to an NSE data feed that helped make huge trading gains, the report said.

He was arrested in June 2022, according to the Business Standard newspaper (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo shared in false posts (left) and in the Times of India's report (right):