The Income Tax department on Wednesday conducted a raid on the premises of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao.
I-T officials conducted raids in the Tamil Nadu Secretariat as well. Sources said the name of Mr. Rao cropped up after officials questioned Shekar Reddy, a businessman and former member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board. Crores of money and gold bars were recovered from Mr. Reddy recently.
Income tax dept. seized Rs 5 crore of undisclosed income from Vivek, son of Mr. Rama Mohana Rao.
Rs. 30 lakh cash (in new currency) and 5kgs gold seized from the house of Mr. Ram Mohana Rao.
The I-T dept says it has seized Rs 18 lakh in new currency and 2 kg of gold bars from the hunt at Ram Mohana Rao’s house and his relatives places
BJP State president Tamilisai Sounderrajan said I-T authorities were conducting searches in the State of late, with lots of seizures being made from Shekhar Reddy.
“And today, searches are being conducted at the Chief Secretary’s residence. This is a usual procedure undertaken by the Income Tax department. So how is it acceptable if those like Mamata Banerjee call it vindictive action,” she said.
“The taxmen raid a place on suspicion or on information of ‘movement of money’ and “they will say there was nothing [incriminating available] if that is the case,” she told reporters.
“The raids are done to see if any [illegal] cash is present. If there is nothing [incriminating available], they will say it. Therefore, I completely deny that this is vindictive action,” she said.
Shekar Reddy and Sreenivasulu were arrested and produced before the Madras High Court .
The State government was not aware of central paramilitary forces being deployed at the residence of Mr. Rao, according to a senior police officer, who preferred not to be quoted.
A team of I-T officials arrive in three cars along with paramilitary forces at the residence of Mr. Rao, reports Udhav Naig.
Central Reserve Police Force personnel were posted outside Mr. Rao's house.
DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin tweets that such a raid is "shameful. Authorities who are corrupt should not be allowed to escape."
Expressing her displeasure at the raid, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said such a move “devalues the institution of head of the civil service”.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson who, since November 8, has been most critical of the demonetisation exercise by the Centre, asked why the Central agencies were not raiding the house of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah.
Even as the raid was on at Mr. Rao's residence, a senior investigating officer told The Hindu that the Chief Secretary had been under the scanner for quite some time now.
Mr. Rao was appointed Chief Secretary in June this year. He also holds full additional charge of Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms.
In June 2016, in a surprise move, he was appointed as the Chief Secretary superseding some seniors and replacing K. Gnanadesikan (since suspended), when Jayalalithaa retained power.
The I-T department on Wednesday conducted searches at over a dozen locations in connection with its tax evasion probe against the son and few other relatives of Mr.Rao.
The searches that began as early as 6:00 a.m. were on at various places in the State and in the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh.
“A total of 13 premises are being searched,” a senior official said, adding the premises connected to Mr. Rao’s son and other relatives were part of the operation.