It was apparently a gathering for a wedding that was never on the cards. ‘Srini weds Mahi’ was just the code to identify vehicles involved in one of the largest Income Tax operations in recent years.
The countdown to ‘Operation Clean Money’ saw the coming together of Income Tax officials from across the country, official eyewitnesses drawn from various central government establishments and car drivers of city-based ‘Fast Track’ company. But the mission remained a top secret till the last minute. Though the officials knew it was a well-coordinated search operation, they had no idea who was the target.
Explaining the countdown to the operation, a senior investigating official told The Hindu that 750 Income Tax officials were asked to be present at a predetermined location at 4 a.m. on Thursday.
About 150-odd cabs booked for the ‘wedding’ reported at the venue of pick-up the previous night.
After a briefing on the “duties and responsibilities” during the operation, the officials were given a sealed cover containing search warrant which had the details of the name and address of the person they were heading to search. “Instructions were given to open the sealed cover on reaching a particular area close to the place of search. The teams were told to present their identity cards, serve the search warrant on the person concerned and offer themselves to be searched first. One team did not know where the other was...,” the official said.
The searches were done in a thoroughly professional manner and clear instructions were given to ensure that there were no complaints of harassment, he added.
The officials were told to make sure that communication was cut off from all the places of searches and visitors persuaded to keep away till the operation was completed. No person was authorised to speak to the media since it was decided to issue a press release after the operation came to an end.
