DMK Thoothukudi Lok Sabha candidate Kanimozhi on Tuesday night said the Income Tax Department searches were conducted at her house under the assumption that the action would intimidate the DMK. “Due to fear of defeat, they are trying to stop the elections through these searches,” she told journalists after an I-T team left the premises empty handed.
“They did not seize anything. We extended full cooperation to them,” she said adding that the I-T officials had issued summons to her at the spot, which was illegal.
“Already they conducted searches twice at the farm house of local MLA Anitha Radhakrishnan and at the DMK district secretary’s house. Why no raids are held at (BJP president and candidate) Tamilisai’s house? There is no basis for these searches,” she said.
Hundreds of cadre and local leaders had assembled outside the house. A senior IT (Investigations Wing) official told The Hindu that the team had received a specific input and based on that they went to search the premises. The searches lasted two hours. “The team did not find anything,” he said.