A week after the raids on 187 establishments related to VK Sasikala, the ousted AIADMK general secretary, sleuths of the Income Tax department on Friday night entered Veda Nilayam, the Chennai residence of the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
I-T officials entered Veda Nilayam around 10 pm on Friday and searched the portion of the residence used by Poonkundram, Jayalalithaa’s trusted aide for more than two decades, and Sasikala. The officials left the premises at 2 am on Saturday.
Sources in the Income Tax office said that two pen drives and two lap tops were seized by the officials. They also disclosed that Poonkundrum was interrogated by the officials for two days. The Income Tax officials had summoned Vivek Jayaraman and Krishna Priya, nephew and niece respectively of jailed Sasikala to Veda Nilayam while the raid was on. Both of them signed as witnesses in the documents prepared by the IT officials.
Veda Nilayam had been raided earlier by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption seuths of Tamil Nadu Government in December 1996 following the case filed by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against Jayalalithaa and Sasikala for amassing properties disproportionate to their known sources of income.
IT officials confirmed that the inspection at Veda Nilayam late Friday night was part of the raids held last week at the residential and business premises of the relatives of Sasikala. On hearing the news that Veda Nilayam was being raided a number of cadre belonging to the Sasikala/Dinakaran faction of the AIADMK assembled in front of the palatial residence and shouted anti-BJP slogans.
Speaking to reporters, Dinakaran blasted the BJP leadership for the raids and said his party would soon teach the saffron party a befitting lesson. “The raids are being carried out at the connivance of chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam. The people of Tamil Nadu would teach them a lesson,” said Dinakaran. He said the ministers are supporting the raid because they are afraid that the IT officials would raid their houses too.
But ministers in the Edappadi Palaniswamy government blamed the Sasikala clan for the present state of affairs. “The raid was held at Veda Nilayam because members of the Sasikala family continue to stay there. The Mannargudi family is responsible for all the issues in the AIADMK and also the cases filed against our Amma in the past,” said D Jayakumar, minister for fisheries.
What stands out in these raids is the softening of the stance of DMK towards the Sasikala clan. “This is the handiwork of the BJP which is trying to establish a foothold in Tamil Nadu. The chief minister and other ministers are afraid of the Tax officials. The BJP’s central leadership is ruling Tamil Nadu by proxy with the silent approval of Palanswamy and Pannerselvam,” said T K S Elangovan, the DMK spokesman.
S Gurumurthy, eminent commentator congratulated the Income Tax department for the raid. “Jaya’s home was a tax haven for the Mannargudi Mafia to keep their electronic evidence of loot. They thought no one would enter the Jaya Fort whose keys were with Sasikala. The High Court permitted the IT Department to raid,” tweeted Gurumurthy within hours of the raid.