Entire Mannargudi clan on I-T radar

Till evening, there was no report of major seizure of cash or gold. An I-T official also visited the Adyar house of sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, when the latter was conducting a ‘gomatha pooja’. 

“There is no raid in my house here,” Dinakaran later told reporters. But his house in Mannai Nagar in Mannargudi in Thiruvarur district, was searched by the I-T teams. Officials also searched the house of Divakaran, Sasikala’s brother, located in Sundara Kottai in Tiruvarur.  

 A team of 10 officials reached the office of Jaya TV at Ekattuthangal at 6 am. It was launched by Jayalalithaa but controlled by Sasikala’s nephew Vivek Jayaraman.He also runs Jazz cinemas, which manages I-Max theatre at a mall in Velachery, the facility which was raided on Thursday. At the Mahalingapuram residence of Jayaraman, there was a squabble between the I-T team and his employees when the officials wanted to carry a few bags inside. 

It was later clarified that they were taking printer, laptops and A4 sheets paper inside the house to record Jayaraman’s statement. The team also seized documents from the T Nagar house of Krishnapriya, daughter of Ilavarasi, sister-in-law of Sasikala. Officials also searched the Guindy office of Dr Namadhu MGR, the mouthpiece of AIADMK managed by Dinakaran and his associates. The Adyar residence of Poongudran, who was PA to Jayalalithaa, was also searched.  At Midas Distilleries, one of the major suppliers of liquor for TN government’s TASMAC, and owned by the Sasikala clan, the I-T team, refused permission for over 100 staff to leave after night duty and also stopped 200 workers from working in the morning shift. All the 300 employees were later allowed to leave at around 2:30 pm.  

An I-T official said incriminating documents showing benami transactions had been seized. A report on this has already been sent to the Finance Minister. The taxmen also seized luxury watches from the house of Divakaran.