Chennai: For the third consecutive day, Income-Tax sleuths continued their raids at the properties of the Mannargudi clan across the state. The 1,800 strong contingent, which has been carrying out ‘Operation Clean Money’, seized several incriminating documents over the past three days and a detailed report of the same is being sent to the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
According to sources, officials have found so far that VK Sasikala and her family have evaded tax to the tune of over Rs 1,000 crore. Saturday’s raids were focused on the assets of Vivek Jayaraman, Sasikala’s nephew, who heads Jaya TV and also owns Jazz Cinemas, which the group bought from Sathyam Cinemas three years ago, reportedly using coercive methods to take over the gleaming new theatres.
Sources said that the much talked about ‘business deal’ between the Satyam Cinemas group and Sasikala’s family is also under IT scanner. Items like precious stones and cash were also recovered from unused hostel rooms in Sengamala Thayaar Educational Trust Women’s College, owned by V,Divaharan at Sundarakottai in Mannargudi, sources said.
Officials in the know said that guns are being trained against eight persons related to the Sasikala family.
Criminal cases are also likely to be booked against them. Apart from tax evasion, the group had also indulged in land grabbing, which is being probed.
“Documents of over 20 shell companies have been unearthed. Cash and jewels worth a few crores have been seized too”, according to sources. The department is perusing the routing of funds by shell companies outside the country post demonetisation.
More than 150 bank accounts are likely to be frozen at the end of the operation. IT department’s largest search operation in recent years began on Thursday at 187 locations across the state, including the residences of Sasikala family members, Kodanad tea estate, Jazz Cinemas, Midas Distilleries, Jaya TV, Namadhu MGR newspaper and several other premises in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
