The Income Tax Department on Tuesday filed a complaint with the commissioner of police in Chennai against Tamil Nadu Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai for his social media posts alleging that he had been “unlawfully confined” within the Sriperumbudur Assembly constituency under the “pretext of a search”, Live Law reported.

On Monday, Selvaperunthagai also alleged that the search, which coincided with party leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Tamil Nadu in the run-up to the Assembly elections, was a “calculated attempt to obstruct democratic functioning and weaken the activities of the Opposition”.

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Voting for the Assembly polls in the state will be held in a single phase on April 23, with results scheduled to be declared on May 4.

On Tuesday, the Income Tax department said that the Congress leader’s claims were also repeated to the media and it was reported widely that a search was conducted at his home in Kilpauk, Chennai, Live Law reported.

The department claimed that it had not conducted any searches.

“The allegations are entirely baseless and factually incorrect,” the legal news outlet quoted the department as saying. “It is clarified that no search, survey or any form of enforcement action was carried out by the…department against…Selvaperunthagai on [April 20] or on any date in the recent past.”

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The department added: “No action whatsoever was undertaken that could have restricted his movement. It is also clarified that no premises, including his residence at Kilpauk, Chennai, were covered under any Income Tax proceedings as claimed in the reports.”

The central agency also said that though it had carried out some verification exercises in the state, they were in connection with an intelligence report of the movement of unaccounted cash. The action was not connected to the Congress leader, added the department.

It further said that the matter has been reported to the Election Commission and a formal police complaint has been filed.