CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday permitted the withdrawal of a petition seeking a probe into alleged income suppression by Chief Minister and TVK chief C Joseph Vijay.
A division bench of Chief Justice S A Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan accepted the petitioner’s request to withdraw the plea and ordered accordingly.
The petitioner M Rajkumar of Chennai, sought directions to the Director General of Income Tax Investigation (DGIT) and the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) to examine materials and findings recorded during search proceedings, sworn statements recorded during assessment proceedings, and the penalty order passed under the Income Tax Act against Vijay, and to initiate appropriate proceedings.
Rajkumar had also sought directions to an appropriate law enforcement agency to register an FIR against Vijay and investigate cognisable offences under sections 420, 467, 470, 471 and 120B of the IPC in connection with alleged suppression of income, receipt of unaccounted cash remuneration and concealment of financial transactions disclosed during search and statutory proceedings.
A third relief was sought for the DGIT and the Principal Commissioner to place materials gathered during the search before the authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for examining existence of a scheduled predicate offence and proceeds of crime.
It may be noted that this is the third petition filed in the matter. In the first petition, seeking an inquiry by the Income Tax department which is pending, the court has directed the department to file its response and issue notice to Vijay. The second petition, seeking an inquiry by the Election Commission, was dismissed on the ground that such directions could not be issued after elections were declared.