The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) has issued a questionnaire to two former top bureaucrats, Sheela Balakrishnan and K. N. Venkataramanan, and serving officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Apurva Varma on the multi-crore gutkha scam issue.
The questionnaire was sent to the three persons about a week ago as the retired IAS officers were part of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and Mr. Varma was Principal Secretary in-charge of the State Home department, during the period in question.
In August 2016, Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) B.R. Balakrishnan met the then Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao and submitted a report on the scam in which a minister, two top police officers and others were allegedly involved, following which Mr. Rao, as explained in his recent interview to The Hindu , had presented a “detailed note” to the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The decision to send the questionnaire was taken following the receipt of replies of Mr. Rao and former Director General of Police Ashok Kumar, according to sources in the DVAC. Both Mr. Rao and Mr. Ashok Kumar, in their replies to the DVAC, were said to have confirmed that they had informed the Chief Minister’s Office on the matter.
While Ms. Balakrishnan was Adviser, Mr. Venkataramanan, one of the Secretaries at the CMO, handled the subject of Home.
Expose follow-up
In late June, The Hindu had exposed the gutkha scam with documents. Three months later, the DVAC filed a First Information Report, after a preliminary investigation, and the charge sheet is expected to be filed in four months.
Sources said the DVAC is adopting a two-pronged strategy. While it is conducting an investigation into “missing documents,” (the IT Department’s report submitted to the government), it is also making efforts to collect all “relevant documents” from the Income Tax department.
Once the anti-graft agency receives the replies of Ms. Balakrishnan, Mr. Venkataramanan and Mr. Varma, it will decide on calling them for questioning, DVAC sources said.
As for the task of collecting the documents from the I-T department, the sources said they had not received all that they had asked for.
A fortnight ago, the agency had moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the I-T department to give all the documents.
The DVAC sources also pointed out that in its order in July, the court had directed the IT Department to “provide the entire incriminating materials seized from the gutkha manufacturer to the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption forthwith.”
On the status of investigation, the sources said that half a dozen persons, related to the production and distribution of gutkha, a banned tobacco product in Tamil Nadu, are being interrogated.
