OOTY: Kodanad estate has hogged the limelight again, but for different reasons this time on Thursday, as the income tax (I-T) sleuths entered the estate for a search operation that begun early this morning. When the hills were slow to wake up on Thursday morning, the I-T officials who travelled in two cars and one van entered the Kodanad estate premises by 6.45 am, sources said. After nearly an hour, the I-T sleuths took a couple of staffers, including the estate manager, from the Kodanad estate premises to the nearby Green T Estate at Curzon, popularly known as Curzon estate, about seven-km of Kodanad estate.
The Green T Estate spread over 563 acres is said to have become the property of Kodanad estate holdings about eight years ago as it purchased the estate from its previous owners. It may be recalled that late chief minister Ms. J. Jayalalithaa used the helipad at Curzon on a few occasions when she visited the estate. While jailed Ms. Sasikala and Ilavarasi are still said to be the partners in this partnership firm of Kodanad Tea Estate Company, the I-T officials took several hours in the Curzon estate to verify the records. The raid was continuing even after 7 pm, at the time of filing this report.
Though the I-T officials who had come for the raid were tight-lipped, sources said that the I-T officials grilled the estate staff on the total acres of land, how much was added in the recent times, how many kilograms of tea is being produced annually, how much is sold in the domestic market, how much is exported, the details for these sales over the past two decades and other details pertaining to the persons who frequent the estate, whether there is an addition to share-holders list in the recent times, whether jewels and cash from Sasikala's family members are being stocked there, how much was spent to purchase the Curzon estate, how the payment was done, whether somebody brokered the deal, whether any other properties were purchased from the Kodanad estate revenue, when floriculture was commenced in the estate and how much revenue is generated through floriculture, sources added. The I-T sleuths also reportedly visited a bank near Kodanad wherein the estate has an account.
