Income Tax officials on Thursday searched the offices of Jaya TV in Chennai and conducted raids at nine more firms at various places in Tamil Nadu and across the country. Armed police personnel were deployed on the premises of Jaya TV, which is controlled by the family of jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala.
A senior I-T official told The Hindu earlier in the day, “Yes, searches are on. This is a part of our operation called 'clean money'.”
Sources said I-T sleuths conducted raids over 187 places in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Delhi, related to 10 groups, including Surana, Jazz Cinemas, Midas Distelleries limited, office premises of Arumugasamy businessman in Coimbatore and Windmill Subramani.
Houses and office premises of sidelined AIADMK leader and Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran were raided.
Other places raided include the residences of Sasikala's niece Krishna Priya in T. Nagar; her brother Dhivakaran in Mannargudi; Dhinakaran's uncle Dr. Venkatesh in Thanjavaur; supporters and relatives of Mr. Dhinakaran in the Nilgris, Pudukottai and Tirunelveli; and Saradha Paper and Boards Pvt. Ltd., Bhavanisagar in Erode district, reports R. Sivaraman.
'Jaya TV staff threatened'
N. Vaidyanathan, party functionary and supporter of Dhinakaran, alleged that I-T officials were threatening the staff of Jaya TV not to telecast any live coverage or debates on the raids, reports Sivaraman.
Advocate N. Sivasankari, who came to Jaya TV to participate in a debate said I-T officials insisted that the management not to do a live debate nor telecast Dhinakaran's interview. It was an attempt to curtail the freedom of speech and expression, which is enshrined in the Constitution, she added.
Searches at five places in Coimbatore
Police sources in Coimbatore said raids were conducted at five places: Senthil group of companies O. Arumugasamy's residence on Race Course Road, Senthil Towers, an office at Ramnagar, the Nilgiris Furniture Store at R.S. Puram and a godown at Marappalam, reports Wilson Thomas.
I am being targeted: Dhinakaran
"There are no searches in my house. My farm house at Puducherry is being searched," Dhinakaran told mediapersons outside his house in Chennai in the morning. ''This is a conspiracy to remove me and Sasikala from politics. The Central government has sent the I-T department after me,'' he said,adding that he was being targetted for his remarks against demonetisation, reports Sivaraman.
I-T department raided the green tea estate at Kotagiri, in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. | Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy
Raids in Kodanad Estate
Teams of I-T sleuths raided the Kodanad Estate and a furniture shopowner, who allegedly supplied all the furniture for use at former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's bungalow there.
A few hours after completing the raids, they went to the Curzon Estate, also a part of the huge Kodanad Estate, and conducted raids there. Police were unsure whether any documents were seized in the raid.
Police confirmed that the I-T Department had raided the timber mill belonging to a Gudalur person, identified as Sanjeevan, who has a furniture shop in Coimbatore.
Police said that Mr. Sanjeevan was an initial suspect in the Kodanad dacoity-cum-murder case but was not arrested due to a lack of evidence of his involvement in the crime, reports Rohan Premkumar.
Search at V. Dhivakaran's residence
A search was carried out at the residence of V. Dhivakaran, Sasikala's brother, at Sundarakottai near Mannargudi. A team of officials began the operation at the crack of dawn. Searches were also conducted at a college run by Dhivakaran and also at the residence of S. Kamaraj, who was appointed the Tiruvarur district Secretary of the AIADMK (Amma) by Dhinakaran, replacing Food Minister R. Kamaraj, recently, reports R. Rajaram.
Income Tax department raids V.K. Sasikala's relative Kaliyaperumal's house at K.K. Nagar, in Tiruchi on Thursday. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
Divakaran's farmhouse in Sundarakottai in Tiruvarur where I-T sleuths are conducting raid. | Photo Credit: M. Moorthy
Raid on residence of Jaya TV MD Vivek Jayaraman
The residence of Vivek Jayaraman (28), who handles the day-to-day activities of Jaya TV and is its Managing Director, was also raided.
Headquartered in Chennai, Mavis Satcom Limited, the parent company that runs Jaya TV, was incorporated in November 1998, reports Sangeetha Kandavel.
According to its website, Jaya TV was formally launched in 1999 in Tamil language. In December 2008, Jaya Network launched Jaya Plus, a 24/7 news channel. It also came up with a musical channel called Jaya Max and movie channel J-Movies.
As on March 2015, Mavis Satcom Limited had a share capital if ₹86.94 lakh with 67 shareholders. Sasikala is the major shareholder in this firm, with nearly 81% holding. Two other firms, Signet Exports and Jazz Cinemas, held 4% each in Mavis, while the remaining shares were held by several individuals and extended family members of Ms. Sasikala. In the financial year 2015, Mavis posted a profit of ₹51.09 crore and income of ₹136.64 crore. Dhinakaran’s wife Anuradha and her sister, Prabha Sivakumar, also play a crucial role in managing Jaya TV.
List of premises raided by I-T dept. today: