TIRUCHY: A day after sleuths from Income-Tax department conducted raids on the properties of State Health Minister C Vijaya Basker in Pudukkottai district, the Minister’s father and brother summoned by I-T officials appeared for an enquiry at the regional office on Saturday. Stating that the family has been paying taxes properly, the Minister’s father alleged that the raid was politically motivated.
The raid was conducted on Vijaya Basker’s properties in Chennai and Pudukkottai since the wee hours of Friday.
After completing a 13-hour search in the Minister’s and also his relative’s properties in three locations in their native Pudukkottai district, the sleuths were said to have summoned the Minister’s father R Chinnathambi and his elder brother C Udhayakumar at the IT office in Tiruchy on Saturday.
Accompanied by their family auditor, arriving at the I-T office at 11.30 am, Chinnathambi told mediapersons that “we have been paying the taxes properly and we have documents as record. During the day-long search, no valuables were recovered. We strongly believe that the raids were part of political vendetta.”
Sources said the father and son were enquired by Assistant Director of Income Tax Senthil Kumar from Coimbatore division, and also Tiruchy division’s I-T Assistant Director Yaser Arafat.
Asked whether the family suspected any particular individual or political party behind the raid, the family refused to comment.