AIADMK name crops up in I-T seizure

The raids, particularly on Reddy, have raised eyebrows in Tamil Nadu’s political circles, with a senior AIADMK functionary telling The Indian Express that the businessman was a member of the party. The functionary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the raids as “another shock for the AIADMK leadership” after the death Monday of J Jayalalithaa.

Reddy is also a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board in Tirupati. “He started his business career as a civil contractor. He was also involved in the sand-quarry business and had bagged some contracts from Southern Railways. But he was denied a seat from Vellore in the last general elections by Amma,” the AIADMK functionary claimed.

In 2014, Reddy was seen with O Panneerselvam, now the chief minister, when he visited the Tirupati temple as a gesture of thanksgiving following the release of Jayalalithaa from a Bengaluru prison after imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.

Reddy had also visited Apollo Hospitals in Chennai last month with ‘prasadam’ (offering) from Tirupati for Jayalalithaa who was undergoing treatment there.

Providing details of the seizures, the I-T official said that 70 kg of gold was seized from a leading hotel in Teynampet, where rooms were allegedly booked by associates of Reddy, while Rs 6 crore in Rs 2,000 notes were recovered from the businessman’s residence in T Nagar.

The other businessmen raided included Srinivasa Reddy, another prominent name in Chennai’s business community, and agents who were allegedly working with them in running an illegal money-exchange racket.

”At least five officials with two leading private sector banks are being summoned for allegedly arranging new notes,” said the I-T official.

The official said the raids were initiated after an illegal money-exchange agent, identified only as Prem, was taken in custody. “Besides bribing bank officials to get new currency notes, Prem was exchanging old currency notes for gold bars. His arrest led us to Reddy and his associates,” said the official.