CHENNAI: After four days of search operation at the premises linked to Tamil Nadu Minister EV Velu, the I-T department on Monday claimed that they have seized Rs 29 crore cash besides a lot of incriminating documents. This seizure has happened despite the leak of information about the search operation to the concerned parties from a senior I-T officer.

The disclosure of seizure — which the I-T department was aiming for in hundreds of crores of rupees in cash — came hours after DT Next carried a report saying that the search operation was failure because of leaked information.

Search at Velu and associates yielded incriminating materials & documents which showed that several hundreds of crores of tax evasion. More than Rs 22 crore cash seized from Arunai group of Velu and their close associates. Searches at the offices of two real estate developers resulted in the seizure Rs 7 crore, officials claimed.