THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KOCHI: Income-Tax sleuths on Thursday raided premises of singer-actor Rimi Tomy, NRK bizman Madathil Reghu and his relative and advocate Vinod Kuttappan in Kochi, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram respectively on suspicion of money-laundering. But this has sent some of the Assembly candidates into a tizzy.
The I-T officers, who detected discrepancies worth Rs 15 crore against Mr Kuttappan, planned to break open lockers at his plush apartments in Kowdiar after he allegedly refused to collaborate with them in the probe.
The officers suspect that the advocate was being a front for clandestine money-laundering of many people, including politicians. The modus operandi is to collect unaccounted money locally and return it as foreign remittances, dodging tax.
Raids at the house of Rimy Tomy at Manimala Cross Road near Edappally started in the morning. The actor was not present at the time of raids, sources said. From Thiruvananthapuram, she rushed back around 4.30 pm while the raid was in progress. A raiding party official said the actor was summoned for questioning in connection with raids.
Ms Tomy said she was clueless: “I will comment once I find what is happening,” she said before going inside the house. Officials indicated that some political parties were using these persons as conduits to transfer large amounts of money ahead of the Assembly elections. Even though officials remained tightlipped sources said some of these persons were under the IT scanner for quite some time.
