Political leaders in Tamil Nadu on Friday demanded a detailed probe into news reports of alleged payouts made to some ministers in the state by businessman J. Sekhar Reddy.
DMK leader MK Stalin told reporters in Chennai that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should probe the alleged payouts made by Reddy to ministers of the Tamil Nadu government.
TNM had earlier reported about alleged huge payments to senior ministers and others as gleaned from the purported diary recovered from Reddy's own business premises by Income Tax authorities during their searches.
In a statement, PMK founder S Ramadoss demanded the state government order a CBI probe into the alleged payments made to ministers.
Ramadoss also said PMK would complain to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and also file a case in the Madras High Court.
Five pages of the diary, which have notings on some days between April and November 2016, show alleged payments made to many ministers and MLAs part of the AIADMK, and various others, to the tune of over Rs 48 crore.
Though diary entries were being investigated by the I-T department, and nothing is conclusive, a nexus between the ruling class of Tamil Nadu and the mining baron has been hinted at by several people over the last few months. The diary goes on to add fuel to these allegations.
However, speaking to TNM, Sekar Reddy said he had no habit of writing a diary. "What should I react to? Why should I react? First, tell me whose diary is this? Because I don't have a habit of keeping a diary," he said.
J Sekar Reddy, an industrialist and mining baron, became the poster boy for the black money crackdown after demonetisation last year. It was on December 9, 2016 that Income Tax officials carried out raids and seized Rs 96.89 crore cash in old high denomination notes, and over Rs 9 crore in Rs 2,000 currency, along with gold weighing over 100 kg.
Sekar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March on money laundering charges. This after the ED had registered a case against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA).
Read: Sekar Reddy’s ‘secret diary’: Were OPS, other ministers on mining baron’s payroll?
IANS Inputs