New Delhi: The CBI on Friday conducted searches at the Delhi premises of the Deputy Director General of Competition Commission of India (CCI) in connection with its investigation into the Tamil Nadu gutka scam.
According to sources searches were conducted at the East Delhi residence of Ravi Chandran, Deputy Director General, CCI who was earlier posted as Senior Intelligence Officer at the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) in Chennai.
The agency carried out searches after getting concrete inputs about his suspected role in the scam as a DGCEI officer during 2013-15, they added.
The agency also questioned S Sridhar, the then Assistant Commissioner at DGCEI whose premises were searched on Thursday, they said. Additional Commissioner of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Senthil Valavan, whose premises was also searched on Thursday, has been summoned by the CBI to join the investigation, sources said.
The scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutkha (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutkha and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013. During the raids, the department had seized a diary containing names of those, who had been allegedly paid by the gutkha manufacturers. The DMK had sought appointment of a special investigation team, (SIT) headed by a retired judge of the high court and comprising CBI officials, to inquire into the matter.
