Income-tax raids at Tamil Nadu chief secretary’s home

Chennai: Income-tax raids sent shock waves across the corridors of power on Wednesday as sleuths swooped down on the home of the Tamil Nadu chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao. I-T officials raided his house in Anna Nagar as well as his office at the secretariat.

Handpicked for the top job by the former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, who superseded 17 IAS officers to make him the top babu, Rama Mohana Rao came off in poor light as significant seizures were made at the home of his kin – at least Rs 30 lakh cash and 5 kg gold. However, the I-T department was tight-lipped on the seizures from his residence and office.

As many as 13 premises belonging to the chief secretary, his son and relatives in Nellore and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and in Karnataka were searched leading to more seizure of cash and gold across south India. The raids, which began at the crack of dawn, at around 5.45 am, at Mr Rao’s residence in Anna Nagar and continued till late into the evening, were conducted in connection with suspected amassing of wealth, which is disproportionate to the known sources of income. Mr Rao suffers the ignominy of being the first chief secretary of a state to be raided by the income tax department.

Sources in I-T department said the raids on Mr Rao came after their interrogation of former TTD Board member Sekhar Reddy and seizure of Rs 131 crore cash and 177 kg gold from premises belonging to him two weeks back. This newspaper had on December 9 reported that Reddy was linked to a top bureaucrat at the Fort St George and that he was known to be the safe-keeper of his benami cash.

Rao’s office at the secretariat, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government, was also not spared as I-T sleuths raided his chamber for close to five hours. Later, two of his personal assistants at his office – Sekar and Kumar — were taken for questioning.

The searches were conducted based on documents and statements from Reddy. Searches were the natural procedure we have to follow. Such searches will help us to build up the case,” an income tax official said. Documents seized during the searches conducted in the premises of Mr Reddy had reportedly led the I-T sleuths to the doors of the chief secretary.

Mr Rao was appointed the chief secretary in June this year by late Jayalalithaa. He had served as private secretary to Jayalalithaa during 2011-2016 and had a meteoric rise to the post of chief secretary.

High drama prevailed outside Mr Rao’s residence in posh Anna Nagar as paramilitary was called in during the time of the raid. It is understood that the I-T department sought the help of the force since a chief secretary was involved and that he could have influenced the state police if they were called in.

The Enforcement Directorate also registered a money laundering case against Reddy after the income tax department shared documents with the agency. It may be noted that the CBI had registered a case against Reddy, his business associates Srinivasalu and Prem and few unnamed bankers on Tuesday after Rs 34 crore of the total Rs 131 crore cash seized from his premises was found to be new Rs 2,000 notes.