A special team from the Income Tax department on Wednesday night took Nagarajan Seyyathurai of the SPK group to Madurai as part of its continuing probe into the recovery of ₹163 crore in cash and 100 kg of gold bullion during searches at 10 locations conducted on Monday and Tuesday.
The SPK Group is a civil works firm that has executed many big ticket projects for the State Highways Department. The officials initially grilled Mr. Seyyathurai at his flat in Chennai about the seizures made at over 25 premises belonging to his group of companies and its business associates in Chennai, Tiruchi and Madurai. When the officials asked Mr. Seyyathurai to account for the source of the seized cash, he referred to the book of accounts in Madurai which, according to him, had the details. Investigators later took him to Madurai to access the book of accounts and other records.
Focus of search
“We have seized three luxury cars that were used to store several crores of rupees besides, the ₹4 crore found in a small godown under the Anna Flyover in Chennai, which could be a premises under the control of the State Highways department. We are winding up the process of recording statements from the persons concerned based on the seizures,” the official said.
After sending a detailed report to New Delhi on the seizures and findings made, the investigating wing will start summoning the proprietors of SPK Group of companies and their business associates.
Parrying questions on the details of documents relating to immovable properties, diary of payments, cash books and content in electronic gadgets, including storage devices, the official said the focus of the searches was only “detection of unaccounted money and tax evasion”.
“The raids were triggered by a specific input on unexplained income and tax evasion. Any other irregularities such as corruption and violation of contract conditions will be reported to the authorities concerned for appropriate action,” the official said. Since SPK Group was mainly engaged in road laying, details of all major contracts in recent years would be called for and scrutinised, sources said.