Chennai: Veda Nilayam, the palatial bungalow of late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa where she lived for nearly four decades, was under the siege of I-T investigators on Friday night who were searching the room used by the leader’s personal assistant Poonkundran. A three-member team of the income tax department swooped on the premises a little after 9.30 pm on Friday night amid heavy police personnel. I-T officials said the searches were happening only inside the rooms used by Poonkundran, who had worked with Jayalalithaa for a very long time. The raids in Poonkundran’s room in Poes Garden residence came a week after extensive searches at his residence here.
As news of the raid spread, I-T officials took pains to explain that only the rooms used by Poonkundran were being searched and the entire premises was not being raided. Poonkundran was Jayalalithaa's closest aide and he had direct access to her and was the points person in Poes Garden besides Sasikala and her family. The income tax officials had raided more than 180 locations owned by Sasikala family and relatives for fine days after which many including Poonkundran appeared before income tax investigators this week.
