The CBI has carried out searches at the Chennai residence of Additional Commissioner, GST, Senthil Val­avaen in connection with the Gutkha scam, officials said on Thursday. Searches were also conducted at the residence of S Sridhar, former additional commissioner, System and Central Excise Intelligence, DGCEI, in Chennai. The premises of Valavaen, an Indian Revenue Service officer, in Che­nnai were searched in connection with the Gutkha scam, the officials said.

The agency had last month arrested promoters of Annamalai Industries, manufacturer of MDM brand of gutkha (a tobacco and 'pan masala' concoction) and so­me government officers in connection with the case.

The company was earlier known as Jayam Industries which was rechristened into Annamalai Industries to continue the sale after Tamil Nadu banned gutkha in 2013, they said. The promoter directors of Jayam Industries — A V Madhav Rao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao — continued selling MDM brand gutkha in the state even after the ban by allegedly influencing officials, politicians and regulatory authorities, the age­ncy officials said. The scam came to light on July 8 last year when income tax sleu­ths raided the godown, offices and residences of the company in Tamil Nadu, which had been facing cha­rges of tax evasion to the tu­ne of Rs 250 crore, they said.