VELLORE: Income Tax department officials on Friday night attempted to search the house of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) treasurer Durai Murugan’s house at Katpadi in Vellore. “A three-member team was present at the house when we returned from election campaign. When we asked what they had come for, the official said they were from the Income Tax department and wanted to search the house.
However, the search warrant they carried denoted cash movements (flying squad search) under the jurisdiction of Arakkonam parliamentary constituency, and it was not applicable to conducting search at the house,” said Paranthaman, joint secretary of DMK’s legal wing.
The three officials came out of the house after the advocate and the DMK members turned them away for not producing proper documents for search. Later, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax - Vijay Deepan came to the spot and an argument broke out between the two groups.
The officials had come to search the house based on Article 131 of IT Act. However, the advocates pointed put that article 131 refers to summoning a person and giving time for search. “This attempt is politically motivated and the officials are not abiding by the laws. We are ready to cooperate with the search if it is legally carried out,” added Paranthaman. Meanwhile, large number of police have been deployed at the spot.