Sasikala faction of AIADMK has targetted O Panneerselvam and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Income Tax raid conducted on Friday morning at Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar’s residence in Chennai. VK Sasikala’s nephew and AIADMK’s deputy chief TTV Dinakaran has raised questions over the I-T dept raid and said it is an attempt to “sabotage their victory” in RK Nagar bypoll due on April 12. The political leader, who is also the party’s candidate for the seat, alleged OPS and BJP were colluding to bring them down according to TV reports.
Vijayabaskar is said to be a supporter of Sasikala and an important fund-raiser for the party. Therefore, the simultaneous raids conducted at locations including Pudukkottai and Trichy along with Vijayabaskar’s house at Greenways road, was said to be a major jolt to her camp considering the proximity to the bypoll. Soon after the raid, the party leader also called it a “politically-motivated” raid. In his defence, Vijayabaskar had told media that he is innocent and fully co-operating with I-T officials. He said that he had shown all his documents and the I-T officials were unable to find anything. The minister further alleged that he was threatened. “They were threatening me. My child wanted to go to the school but they did not allow. This is politically motivated. The I-T department is harassing me,” said Vijayabaskar.
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Not only Vijayabaskar but his supporters also protested against the raid. After the raids, they staged demonstrations on the roads. The police had to use water cannons to control the crowd. Meanwhile, DMK working president MK Stalin has demanded resignation of Vijayabaskar.
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According to reports, the I-T officials searched at over 30 locations in the state including against certain medical professionals, pharma firms and their executives. Over 100 I-T sleuths along with security personnel were part of the operation, they said. Certain premises related to officials of a medical university in the state were also being searched, said officials. They added that the raid was conducted as there were certain “inputs” that black money is allegedly being pumped in for the byelection to RK Nagar bypoll.
(With agency inputs)