The Income Tax (IT) department on Friday knocked on the doors of V. Sabareesan, the son-in-law of DMK president M.K. Stalin, few of his associates and former Transport Minister Senthil Balaji. The searches happened at over five places in Chennai including Mr Sabareesan’s residence at Neelankarai on East Coast Road.
Searches were carried out at two of Mr Sabareesan’s close aides — Bala of G Square Realtor’s Private Limited and Karthik Mohan, son of DMK Anna Nagar MLA M.K.Mohan. Sources in the Income Tax department said that the searches were based on some inputs they had received.
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The officers of IT Department also conducted a search in premise belonging to a real-estate firm –G Square, which has aggregated land for some of the big corporates and for setting up IT parks in the last few years.
Until 8 p.m. tax sleuths remained tight lipped when asked about seizures.
According to sources, the searches began at all the places simultaneously at around 6.30 am including at the two-storey palatial house located off the sea shore in Casurina drive, Kapaleeshwarar Nagar, Neelangarai. Around 12 officers from the IT department accompanied by armed guards from the central paramilitary forces entered thebungalow when Mr Sabareesan and his wife Senthamarai were present. As soon as word spread around about the IT searches, DMK party workers gathered in front of the house and expressed solidarity with their leader’s family. They also blamed BJP-led central government for IT searches.
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At Anna Nagar, DMK cadres protested in front of Mr Karthik’s house. The cadres had assembled before the house to accompany his father Mr. Mohan for door-to-door canvassing in the early hours. Suddenly, the officers of IT department entered the house accompanied by armed central paramilitary forces. While the officers were conducting the search, the cadres blocked the road and staged a dharna besides indulging in sloganeering against Central and state governments for launching Income Tax searches at the DMK leaders’ houses.
The IT team also searched the residences of former Transport Minister and DMK MLA Senthil Balaji and his brother Ashok Kumar in Karur and at a couple of other places. Senthil Balaji is the DMK candidate for the Karur Assembly constituency. The operation continued till late in the evening.
In Thanjavur, the officials searched three places belonging to the Thanjavur North DMK union secretary, Murasoli. The searches were conducted at the house of Mr.Murasoli at Arulananda Nagar, Thanjavur, at Malligaipuram near Srinivasapuram area in Thanjavur and at his native place, Thennankudi village. After searching the three premises for about six hours, the IT sleuths issued a notice to Mr.Murasoli directing him to appear for further inquiry at the IT Office, Thanjavur, sources said.
(With inputs from R.Rajaram in Tiruchi and Venkatasubramanian in Thanjavur)