CHENNAI: Jaya Harini, the house of ousted AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, was bustling with activity since Thursday morning as party cadre started gathering to show their solidarity. The house was one of the properties belonging to jailed leader VK Sasikala’s extended family, but was not touched by Income Tax officials even as searches were conducted at 187 places belonging to close aides and relatives of Dhinakaran and Sasikala.
Dhinakaran, who emerged from his home, said his house was not searched by the Income Tax department, but some of his properties, including a farm house at Puducherry, were raided by officials due to ‘political vendetta’ by the present government. He claimed the raids were part of the Centre’s tactics to get him and Sasikala out of the AIADMK. “It’s been orchestrated by the Centre. But I will not bow down,” he said.
However, the department denied that the operations had anything to do with politics. “It is part of the Operation Clean Money Drive launched by the Prime Minister in March. We are implementing it in Tamil Nadu,” said a senior Income Tax official.
The state had earlier escaped Operation Clean Money Drive, which was launched to crack down on unaccounted money deposited post-demonetisation, as Income Tax officials were waiting for the stash-money declaration window offered by the government to end in October.
“We had identified 10 groups that own shell companies and made large deposits in banks. The raids are being carried out in close to 190 places,” the official said. Some of the key places searched on Thursday included the office of Jaya TV, a place near the Poes Garden residence of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa from where JJ TV once operated, a house of Krishna Priya, daughter of Ilavarasi, located on Habibullah Road and several business houses and shell companies, and the premises of aides close to Dhinakaran, Sasikala and her brother Dhivakaran. The Adyar residence of S Poongundran, who was one of Jayalalithaa’s most trusted aides, was also raided.
The official said almost all premises belonging to associates of Dhivakaran were searched in Mannargudi. Krishna Priya’s house, where Sasikala stayed during her parole, was also searched. Jaya TV, started by Jayalalithaa in 1999, was the official mouthpiece of the AIADMK. Members of Sasikala’s family have been controlling its operations for many years now. Sasikala’s nephew Vivek Jayaraman, son of Ilavarasi who is also in jail, currently manages the affairs of the TV channel. Vivek also controls Jazz Cinema, which is also under the Income Tax scanner as a shell company.