The Income Tax Department on Friday told the Madras High Court that it had found its confidential letter on the gutka scam during a raid at late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s residence Veda Nilayam The Hindu reported. The department said the letter, that it had addressed to former Director General of Police Ashok Kumar, had details about a corruption case naming Tamil Nadu health minister, top police officials and others.
Income Tax Principal Director Susie Babu Varghese disclosed the information in an affidavit he submitted on the matter based on DMK MLA J Anbazhagan’s public interest litigation seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged scam. The former principal director of the department had written a letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and Director General of the Police in connection with the scam, the affidavit said.
On November 17, 2017, the letter was seized from the rooms occupied by ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader VK Sasikala in Veda Nilayam, PTI reported. She has been lodged in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Prison since February after the Supreme Court convicted her in a disproportionate assets case.
Also attached to the letter was evidence about bribes paid to certain officials, according to Varghese. The letter includes sworn statements from Madhava Rao, a partner in the gutka company allegedly involved in the scam, Outlook reported. “Madhava Rao in his sworn statement has said that he had paid Rs 56 lakhs to the health minister between the period April 1, 2016 to June 15, 2016 for incidental expenses incurred for running the business of manufacture and sale of Gutka which is not legally permitted in Tamil Nadu,” the affidavit read.
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