11 Central Govt cars appear near Jaya's Kodanadu estate, officials downplay it

Udhagamandalam: The sudden appearance of 11 cars with Central Government emblems near Kodanadu estate of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday created a flutter as news spread of 'Income tax raids,' but officials said they carried members of Parliamentary Committee on Labour.

Dismissing reports in some Tamil television channels of 'Income Tax raids',district administration sources and police said members of Parliamentary Committee on Labour had arrived in Udhagamandalam in the cars to study problems of labourers and estates in Nilgiris district, a major tea producing area in the region.

Since there are a number of tea estates near the estate, the committee members had visited the place, they said.

The estate has been in the news after a 40-year-old security guard posted at a bungalow at nearby Kodanad estate was found murdered on April 24 and some documents were suspected to have been stolen.

The estate figures in the disproportinate assets case involving AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala and Jayalalithaa, among others.

The committee also visited a Krishi Vikas Kendra near Coonoor, which was proposed to be closed due to paucity of funds, they said.