Gutkha biz: Madras HC orders CBI probe

The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into illegal gutkha business in Tamil Nadu involving a Minister and senior police officers. The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose while passing orders on two Public Interest Litigations filed by J Anbazhagan, a DMK MLA and a social activist said the underground gutkha business was a crime against society and therefore this is a fit case for a CBI probe.

The case shot into its prominence when Madhava Rao, one of the gutkha manufacturers, in his sworn affidavit to the Income Tax department  stated that he had paid nearly Rs 40 crore to Vijaya Bhaskar, health Minister of Tamil Nadu  and senior IPS officers for facilitating the manufacture and sale of gutkha which was banned  in the State. Despite its official ban, gutkha was freely available across the counter all over Tamil Nadu as law enforcing agencies had turned a blind eye to the business.

Though Vijay Narayan, Tamil Nadu’s advocate general told the court that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption was probing the case and was in the final phase of the investigation, the petitioner’s advocate P Wilson pointed out that the DVAC has no powers to file cases against Central Government officials. “Since the allegation is of a multi-State scam, the CBI is the only appropriate agency which could carry out this investigation,” said Wilson.

The questionnaire sent by the DVAC to the then additional secretary Jayasree Muralidharan regarding the missing classified documents connected to the gutkha scam has not yielded any response. But last week saw the head of DVAC Manjunatha and investigating officer M Balasubramaniam being removed from their positions.

The Income Tax department had conducted searches in the residences and business premises of gutka manufacturers in July 2016 and had seized many incriminating documents. The Principal Director of Income Tax had written secret letters to the then chief secretary and director general of police with details of the statements made by Rao. B R Balakrishnan, the then Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) had met the then chief secretary in the Secretariat on August 12, 2016 and handed over the details of the pay-off made to the Minister and the police officers. 

No action was taken by the Tamil Nadu government on the letter submitted by the IT department. On November 17, 2017, the Income Tax officials searched Veda Nilayam, the residence of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and seized the letters sent by the department officials to the chief secretary and the DGP. These letters were seized from the rooms used by VK Sasikala, the close aide of Jayalalithaa.

Though the DVAC and the Vigilance Commission were entrusted with the probe by the TN Government, the frequent transfers of the heads of these institutions raised eyebrows.

Things took a turn for the worse when T K Rajendran, the then Commissioner of Police whom Rao named as one of the beneficiaries of the pay-off was appointed as the  chief of the State Police.