Bengaluru: A search of the residences of two chief engineers of the Public Works Department and three others linked to them has so far yielded Rs. 6 crore, including Rs. 4.7 crore in new currency, and over 14 kilos of gold and gold jewellery.
As of Thursday night, Income Tax department sources said that they were not finished searching the offices and residences of T.N. Chikkarayappa, Managing Director, Cauvery Neeravari Nigam; and S.C. Jayachandra, Chief Project Officer, State Highway Development Project; businessman Sibi Chakravarthy of Kannan Borewells and Ramlingam, a civil contractor.
The search covered 18 locations in Bengaluru, and multiple locations in Erode and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. “A large tranche of documents and papers related to contracts and properties has been identified. It will take some time to examine all of them,” a department source told The Hindu .
One of the chief engineers owns high-end sports cars.
Umashankar, a senior manager of a private bank, has emerged as the conduit for exchanging old currency with new in the black market.
“Though the officials and contractors were under watch for some time, the movement of cash post-demonetisation necessitated this operation. A large number of contractors involved in execution of works given by PWD have been covered,” an official said.
The operation was the result of raids on several contractors associated with the Yettinahole and Krishna Jalabhagya Nigam projects, during which sleuths had found a diary with entries of suspect payments. The lead for Wednesday's operation came from the diary, I-T sources said.
