Jaya TV raided for tax evasion
In what could well be the biggest chain of raids in recent times, the incometax department on Thursday unleashed a massive army of whopping 1,600 officers to conduct searches in over 180 premises linked to expelled AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran and his jailed aunt V.K. Sasikala.
The ‘Operation Clean Money’, which began in the early hours of the day in multiple places almost simultaneously for unearthing black money and tax evasion, continued till late night and will carry on through Friday as well, Income Tax department sources here said.
The raided places — 187 to be precise, 12 of them in Chennai — included Jaya TV channel and Namadhu MGR newspaper offices, owned by the Sasikala family and at one time perceived to be the AIADMK organs.
In what could well be the biggest chain of raids in recent times, the income-tax department on Thursday unleashed a massive army of whopping 1,600 officers to conduct searches in over 180 premises linked to expelled AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran and his jailed aunt V.K. Sasikala.
They said, “several documents were seized in the raids and special teams would work “overtime” to assess the possible links and the need for further probing. The workforce for the operation was drafted from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, apart from home state Tamil Nadu.
Among the places raided were TTV’s office close to his Adyar house JayaHarini, where he was performing goh-pooja (worshipping cow) along with his wife when an I-T official landed early morning, his 100acre farmhouse close to Puducherry, the Midas brewery said to belong to the Sasikala family and the Kodanad estate in Nilgiris where Jayalalithaa used to often rest along with friend Sasikala.
Putting up a brave face before the mass of TV cameras outside his gates soon after the news of the raids erupted, T.T.V. alleged that Centre had triggered the taxmen’s operation clearly “aimed at eliminating me and Chinnamma (Sasikala) from the political arena”.
Meanwhile, BJP state chief Tamilisai Soundararajan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no compulsion or necessity to use the Income Tax department for “political purposes” as the party considers leaders of the TTV camp as just “faction leaders” of the AIADMK.