CHENNAI: In a damming disclosure to the Madras high court, the income tax department has said a confidential note written by it in the multi-crore gutkha scam was recovered from AIADMK leader VK Sasikala's room in former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa's house in Poes Garden. The I-T department's letter had been forwarded through the then DGP to Jayalalithaa but was found from a room occupied by Sasikala.
"During a search by the department on November 17, 2017 in the rooms occupied by Sasikala, a note dated September 2, 2016 signed by the then DGP addressed to the then chief minister enclosing copies of secret letter dated August 11, 2016 addressed by then principal director of income tax department to DGP in connection with the gutka scam was found," said Suise Babu Varghese, the principal director of the department, through an affidavit filed in the court.
Varghese made the submissions in a PIL filed by DMK legislator J Anbazhagan seeking a CBI probe into the alleged gutka scam. The letter dated November 11, 2016 was addressed to both the then chief secretary and the DGP with copies of the relevant accounts from the seized materials and copies of the extracts of sworn statements recorded from Madhava Rao, partner in the gutka company involved in the scam, evidencing payment to various parties connected with the state government, and requesting necessary action against the persons concerned, Varghese added.
This apart, in the sworn statement, Rao has stated that the payments were made to various officials and explained that the abbreviation of 'HM' and 'CP' in the diary seized from the firm denotes health minister and commissioner of police respectively, the officer has said.
"Madhava Rao in his sworn statement has said that he had paid Rs 56,00,000 to the health minister between the period April 1, 2016 and 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 said.
