KARUR: The raids on a noted film financier that began on Friday evening went on till 10 am on Saturday, with the sleuths from various departments reportedly seizing nearly Rs 5 crore, currency counting machines and an ambulance carrying government emblem. The officials also inspected the house of one of his friends this afternoon, but the search did not yield any recovery.
The raids at P Anbunathan’s house here led to the recovery of nearly Rs 4.80 crore, said sources. The local police have, meanwhile, slapped a case of misusing emblems among other cases, sources said.
In the initial search that began on Friday evening, the election commission flying squad seized Rs 10.30 lakh from a parking yard that Anbunathan owned, besides an ambulance bearing Union government emblem, a dozen cash counting machines, four luxury vehicles, a tractor and some empty boxes.
The case was then handed over to the investigation wing of the IT, and a team, led by Deputy Director (Investigations) Manikandan, searched Anbunathan’s house at Ayyampalayam along the Karur-Salem national highway. From here, they recovered Rs 4.77 crore, said highly-placed sources.
Officials also raided the house opposite to this, with the whole operation lasting till Saturday morning.
However, IT officials on the field and in Chennai remained tightlipped about the quantum of money seized. When asked, district Collector and district election officer TP Rajesh said the value of the seizure is unconfirmed, and that it is under the custody of IT department, which has taken it to Coimbatore for investigation.
During the raids, officials from other departments were not allowed.
The officials also raided the premises of coconut coir threading mill at Adhiyamankottai in Punnam Chatiram village, owned by Anbunathan’s close friend, Manimaran (42), on Saturday afternoon. But they left the premises by 4.30 pm, as they did not find any money during the search.