The 30-hour search operations conducted by the Investigation Directorate of Income Tax in the SRM group of institutions on Tuesday yielded unaccounted cash of Rs.6.75 crore.
Promoted by T.R. Pachamuthu, the SRM group has its presence in several fields, including medicine, dental, engineering, film production, transportation, media, hospitality and entertainment. Following complaints of alleged payment of Rs.30 lakh as capitation fee for MBBS admission by a father of the student, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted enquiry in March.
As a follow-up, the premises of Mr. Pachamuthu, his two sons and son-in-law were searched by IT sleuths since Tuesday morning at 40 places in the city. Over 250 officers were involved in the operations that were carried out in seven other places including Tiruchi, Bangalore, Ghaziabad, Sonepat (Haryana) and New Delhi.
According to the sources, the searches were also conducted in the premises of Vendhar Movies and TV news channel ‘Puthiya Thalaimurai’. One of the partners of Vendhar Movies is absconding since Tuesday. The recent hits of Vendhar Movies are Ethir Neechal and Thillu Mullu. The search led to confiscation of documents which indicated receipt of donations, inflated expenditure, diverting funds of trusts and evasion of income tax for the last few years. Jewels have been seized and kept in sealed conditions.