Income tax officials raid 33 places in Tamil Nadu

The Income Tax (IT) department officials on Tuesday raided 33 premises in Tamil Nadu belonging to three business groups.

According to reports, the raids by the IT department are the follow-up to its earlier searches linked to jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala’s kin and business associates.

However, a senior official told The Hindu that these groups have a lot of shell companies and these are independent actions.

Raids are being conducted at 21 locations in Chennai and 12 outside Chennai. These include premises of Spectrum Mall's owner, Patel group, MARG group, Milan group and Ganga foundations.

Earlier this month, after days of multi-city searches, Income Tax officials detected undisclosed income of Rs. 1,430 crore in respect of ten assessee groups which included those linked to VK Sasikala, her family members and their associates.

A team, consisting of three members, reportedly also verified the documents with regard to the Kodanadu Estate and also the 670 acre Green Teas estate in Curzon, said to be purchased by late chief minister Jayalalithaa and her aide VK Sasikala some five years ago.

Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa used to stay and look after official duties twice a year in the Kodanadu Bungalow.