CHENNAI: The Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate have issued a summons to R V Ashok Kumar, brother of Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, in a tax evasion case and the cash-for-jobs case.
This comes after the I-T department conducted searches on properties related to family members of Balaji in Chennai, Karur, Coimbatore and Erode last month and the ED's searches on Tuesday. Both agencies also conducted searches at the office of the minister's brother.
Ashok's name figures in three FIRs along with Balaji, his personal assistant Shanmugam and others for taking cash for jobs in the transport department between 2011 and 2015.
Sources said a summons from the I-T department had been issued multiple times to Ashok seeking his personal appearance but he is yet to show up. Now, the ED has summoned Ashok, Shanmugam and others for questioning next week in the cash-for-jobs case.
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The two, along with other accused and a woman suspected to be linked to an alleged 'benami' land deal related to the minister, have been summoned to record their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Both the agencies are probing the acquisition of a property worth over Rs 25 crore for a mere Rs 10.88 lakh. The ED claims that a benami individual was used to create a facade and distance from the true owner of the property. Sources said the ED has asked them to depose before the agency at its office next week.