The Income Tax department on Friday continued its biggest-ever crackdown in Tamil Nadu on suspected tax evasion by V.K. Sasikala, the jailed former aide of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and her family members in different parts of the State, amid isolated protests by groups of persons in Chennai and Mannargudi.
The searches at many locations, including the house of Jaya TV managing director Vivek, who is the son of Ilavarasi, Sasikala’s sister-in-law, and the properties of her brother Dhivakaran, are expected to continue on Saturday as well.
Reiterating that the searches were not instigated by the Centre, senior officials of the Income Tax department said that the activities of dozens of suspects were put under surveillance before the massive searches were launched in different States. The officials said they did their homework by gathering documents pertaining to major financial transactions and tax returns.
Sources said efforts were on to probe a specific input that the family had accumulated huge quantities of gold ingots immediately after the demonetisation policy was announced on November 8 last year. There was also an input that a huge amount of cash (old currency) was exchanged and transported to an undisclosed location. The activities of some family members came under the scanner days ahead of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death, amid rumours of hectic activity in the sprawling Siruthavoor farmhouse in Kancheepuram district.
On Friday, I-T officials continued “Operation Clean Money” at more than 150 locations across the State. A senior official said, “We have concluded searches at a few locations. Raids are on in other premises. In a few places, we found papers that led us to another location. We will come out with details on the documents and other papers seized once the raids are concluded.” He added that before seizing the documents, the parties concerned were questioned thoroughly. The officials declined to comment on media reports of large-scale seizure of gold and cash from some of the locations that were searched. They remained tight-lipped with regard to a query whether anyone had been, or would be, summoned.
