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Gutkha scam: Raids on Tamil Nadu Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar, DGP TK Rajendran

The scam pertains to payment of Rs 39 crore bribes allegedly to Dr Vijayabaskar, Rajendran, retired DGP S George and several others

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In a major embarrassment to the ruling AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday conducted raids at around 35 in multiple cities in the country including Tamil Nadu Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar and Director General of Police TK Rajendran in connection with its ongoing probe into the multi-crore gutka scam.

The scam pertains to payment of Rs 39 crore bribes allegedly to Dr Vijayabaskar, Rajendran, retired DGP S George and several others by a gutkha manufacturer for facilitating the sale of the banned tobacco products in the state.

The places searched are residential premises of the promoters/directors of the MDM and other public servants including officials of sales tax department, customs and central excise, food safety and drug administration department and jurisdictional police officials in Chennai, Thiruvallur, Tuticorin, Pondicherry, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, the CBI said in a statement.

There were strong rumours in the political circles that Vijayabaskar might be asked to step down from the Edappadi K Palaniswami cabinet as he was coming under the CBI scanner after the last year's IT raids.

This is the first time in the state a serving DGP has been raided by the CBI.

Following the raids conducted at the residence of Minister Vijayabaskar and DGP Rajendran, the opposition parties including DMK and Left sought the minister's ouster from the cabinet and also wanted the government to remove Rajendran as DGP.

However, Vijayabaskar, in a statement, rejected the demands for his resignation saying that he does not become guilty just by the allegations.

The raids are being conducted after the CBI interrogated Rao in Chennai last week.

The scam came to light when the Income Tax department seized a diary that had details of bribe paid from Madhava Rao who owns MDM brand of gutkha during a raid in July 2016. The company faces charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutka and pan masala were banned in 2013.

Though the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption in Tamil Nadu registered a case in September 2017, it could not file the charge sheet within the stipulated six months. The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK legislator J Anbazhagan.

The CBI's Anti-Corruption (III) unit, New Delhi has registered an FIR on May 30 against unknown officials of the central excise department, officials of Tamil Nadu government, food safety department, public servants and private persons under section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

A secret letter of the principal director of investigation, IT department, handed over to the then chief secretary PS Rama Mohana Rao and DGP Askhok Kumar on the payouts to the tune of Rs 39 crore to a minister, three IPS officers and many central and state government officials went missing from their respective offices after they stepped down from the service. The letter addressed to DGP was later found at late CM Jayalalithaa's residence in her close aide VK Sasikala's room when the IT department raided the premises in November last year.

OPPOSITION SEEKS REMOVAL

There were strong rumours in the political circles that Vijayabaskar might be asked to step down from the Edappadi K Palaniswami cabinet as he was coming under the CBI scanner after the last year’s IT raids. This is the first time in the state a serving DGP has been raided by the CBI. The probe agency had registered an FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. The opposition parties including DMK and Left has sought the minister’s ouster from the cabinet and wanted the government to remove Rajendran as DGP.

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