The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Chennai on Monday failed to comply with a direction issued by the Madras High Court Bench to submit incriminating documents reportedly seized by I-T officials with respect to the gutkha scam, which reportedly took place during Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran’s tenure as Commissioner of Police, Chennai, between October 2015 and September 2016.
Justices K.K. Sasidharan and G.R. Swaminathan were informed by advocate S. Srimathi, representing the Chief Commissioner, that the I-T department received the court order belatedly, and therefore, could not submit the documents on time. Claiming that the official came to know of the court order for the first time only through newspaper reports on Friday, she urged the court to grant two weeks’ time to submit the documents.
Refusing to do so, the judges pointed out that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had promptly submitted the incriminating documents, which were forwarded to it by the State government. Mr. Justice Sasidharan ordered production of the documents on Wednesday.
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Earlier, the judges accepted a sealed cover submitted on behalf of the Chief Secretary, containing records related to the two-year extension of service granted to Mr. Rajendran. The judges had called for those records to find out if there was any substance in the allegation against the police officer by a petitioner, who had challenged the extension of service. The petitioner, K. Kathiresan, had alleged that the documents seized by the I-T officials from a gutkha manufacturer in Chennai had revealed payment of bribes to a Minister, top police officials and others for permitting manufacturing and sale of gutkha in the city, despite a ban.