Drama in Chennai after I-T officials raid Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence

Late-night drama erupted in Chennai after the I-T Department carried out searches at J Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence. The raids came days after the department conducted multi-day searches on properties linked to the Sasikala clan.

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Dev Goswami
New Delhi, November 17, 2017 | UPDATED 02:39 IST

Highlights

  • 1
    I-T officials raided Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden home.
  • 2
    Searches conducted in spaces used by Sasikala and Jayalalithaa's assistant.
  • 3
    Deepa Jayakumar claimed the raids were part of a conspiracy hatched by Sasikala.

Officials from the Income Tax Department, on Friday night, carried out raids at Veda Nilayam, the Poes Garden, Chennai residence of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The raids, which began at 9.30 pm Friday, came just days after taxmen conducted multi-day searches at premises linked to the family of jailed AIADMK leader and Jayalalithaa's long-time aide VK Sasikala and Tamil news channel Jaya TV.

After Jayalalithaa's death, Sasikala had continued living at the Poes Garden home. She lived there until the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a disproportionate assets case and sent her to jail.

Friday's developments are believed to be linked to the recent raids on the premises of Jayalalithaa's assistant Poongundran. At the Poes Garden raid, the Income Tax officials are believed to have focused their search only on spaces used by Poongundran and Sasikala.

Jayalalitha's living place was left untouched, sources told India Today, adding that the taxmen had recovered some laptops and pen drives.

However, Jaya TV MD and CEO Vivek Jayaraman, who was able to enter the Poes Garden home soon after the raids began, claimed the taxmen also took away three bundles of letters AIADMK cadres had written for Jayalalithaa.

"The temple where Amma lived has been tainted now and it is very unfortunate that no one raised any objection," Vivek Jayaraman, who is also a nephew of Sasikala, said.

Interestingly enough, while Vivek Jayaraman was able to enter the Poes Garden home, Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar, who too arrived at the site, was reportedly denied entry. Later in a dramatic statement, Deepa claimed the raids were part of a conspiracy hatched by Sasikala herself.

"Income Tax officials did not inform us about the raids. I am the rightful heir of Jayalalithaa. They broke into our property. It's illegal. I am the rightful heir of Jayalalithaa," Deepa Jayakumar said, before ending with, "It's (a) conspiracy by Sasikala and (her) family," she said.

HIGH DRAMA

Meanwhile, supporters of sidelined AIADMK leader and a nephew of Sasikala, TTV Dhinakaran protested outside the Poes Garden residence. Heavy police deployment was seen in the area and visuals from the site showed cops carting off protestors in buses. 

Dhinkaran reacting to the developments on Twitter and seemingly blamed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami for orchestrating the raids. 

"How will the E Palaniswami government, which has been cheating the people (of Tamil Nadu) and the (AIADMK) party cadre by continuously saying that it will turn Poes Garden (residence) into a memorial (for Jayalalithaa), explain this treacherous act?" Dhinakaran asked in his tweet that was posted in Tamil.

RAIDS ON SASIKALA CLAN

Friday's developments came days after the Income Tax Department carried out extensive, multi-day raids at more than 150 properties, mostly in Chennai.

Those raids targetted the Sasikala clan and premises of Jaya TV. Earlier this week, the Income Tax Department claimed to have unearthed at least Rs 1,400 crore in unaccounted wealth during the multi-day raids.

All the premises in those raids were linked either to Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dhinakaran or Jaya TV.

Some of the places raided included the residence of M Natarajan, Sasikala's husband, in Thanjavur; the Kodanad Tea Estate belonging to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa; Jazz Cinemas; Midas Distilleries; Sharada Paper and Boards; Senthil Group of Companies; Nilgiri Furniture in Coimbatore; and Namadhu MGR, a Tamil newspaper.

(With inputs from Pramod Madhav in Chennai and agencies)