CBI gets four day custody of 5 accused in gutka case

A CBI special court on Monday granted four-day custody of five suspects, three gutka manufacturers and two government officials, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore gutka scam.

CBI investigators had arrested AV Madhava Rao, Srinivasa Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta, the promoters of Annamalai Industries along with Dr P Senthil Murugan of Food Safety and Drug Administration Department of Tamil Nadu and NK Pandian, a superintendent of Central Excise Department on Thursday.

Meanwhile, CBI sources hinted that at least six persons, including the two brokers, who handed over bribe to officers and staff of the gutka traders were also being questioned separately by the agency.

The CBI officers from Delhi, who are camping in Chennai, have already gathered enough information by questioning the brokers and others and are well placed to grill the five arrested persons.

It may be recalled that the CBI investigators had carried out searches at 35 locations in the state, including the residence of state DGP T K Rajendran, retired DGP S George and State Health Minister C Vijayabaskar on Wednesday.

The case pertains to illegal sale of gutkha, a concoction of tobacco and ‘pan masala’ which was banned in the state in 2013 and payment of bribe to government officials and ministers to the tune of Rs 40 crore.

On Friday, former city police commissioner and retired DGP S George in a hurriedly arranged press meet had blamed his subordinates for not informing details about the gutka scam to him on time.

The scam came to light on July 8, 2016, when income tax sleuths raided the godown of a gutkha manufacturer along with the offices and residences of the company in Tamil Nadu, which had been facing charges of tax evasion.

During the raids, the Income Tax Department had stumbled upon a ledger containing names of those who had been receiving the bribes.

The case, which was initially probed by the DVAC, was handed over to the CBI this April by the Madras High Court. The agency had registered the FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May.