I-T dept recovers huge amount of cash from TN CS's residence

Chennai: The Income Tax department has recovered an amount of Rs 30 lakh in new notes of Rs 2,000 denominations along with five kilograms of gold and documents and details of undisclosed assets worth about Rs 5 crore during the raids carried out at the residence and office of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao, the residence of his son Vivek and the latter’s in-laws’ house in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.

Tax officials stated that the raids were conducted at 11 places. A senior I-T official said that the raids were linked to the seizure of Rs 132 crore cash (including Rs 34 crore in new notes) and 177 kg gold from mining baron Sekhar Reddy earlier this month.

“Documents seized from Reddy’s premises were the major evidence, as they had details linked to Rao. It was a matter of ascertaining locations before launching the raid,” he said.

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He further stated, "Reddy had direct access to both Rao and a senior politician of the ruling party. We couldn’t raid the politician as we don’t have enough evidence to link him to the illegal transactions."

According to sources present at the raid sites, "A large part of the cash and gold were recovered from Vivek’s house and his in-laws’ residence in Chittoor. Multiple cellphones, SIM cards and several documents were seized from Rao’s office."

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What else the I-T officials stated:

• Reddy was in regular touch with Rao and the politician’s office.
• The CBI has also joined the I-T probe into the source of new currency notes with us.
• The CBI has filed an FIR against Reddy, his relative K Srinivasulu, and Premkumar, an agent who allegedly exchanged old notes for gold bars.
• Both Reddy and Rao would be booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
• The CBI has also launched a parallel inquiry into RBI-Chennai and two leading private banks, which are suspected to have helped Reddy to exchange notes in the first two weeks after demonetisation was announced on November 8.