Mr Phatak had come to the Central Park area with other leaders to allegedly distribute money when a tip-off to the Tulinj police led to his arrest in the early hours.

Mumbai: The Palghar police arrested Shiv Sena MLC Ravindra Phatak with Rs 64,000 in cash ahead of the election, after intercepting his car near the party office at Nalasopara.

According to the police, in the rear of the car, three bags full of clothes were found under which the cash was hidden.

Mr Phatak had come to the Central Park area with other leaders to allegedly distribute money when a tip-off to the Tulinj police led to his arrest in the early hours.

Police inspector Daniel Ben, attached to the Tuli-nj police station at Nal-asopara, intercepted Mr Phatak’s car at around 2.30 am following a tip-off. The police said that under the model code of conduct, politicians who do not belong to that seat and are not scheduled to vote there are barred from entering 48 hours before the polls are to be conducted.

In his statement to the police, Mr Ben said that nakabandi was underway starting Sunday 10pm when Mr Phatak, and the saffron party alliance candidate Rajendra Gav-it, was spotted in a vehicle. The tip-off to the po-lice was that they had co-me to the campaigning office of Jitendra Shinde in the Central Park area.

The situation turned volatile after mayor Rupesh Jadhav of the Bahu-jan Vikas Aaghadi (BVA) and former mayor Umesh Naik and 30 party workers landed there and protested the presence of Mr Phatak.

Meanwhile, Mr Phatak’s PA Ajinkya Gaonkar  fil-ed a cross complaint against BVA workers including Mr Jadhav. In his co-mplaint to the police, Mr Gaonkar said that they were informed of some discrepancies in voter’s list and hence his boss reached there at  night.