Day 2: Income-Tax raids yield more cash and gold from T Nagar

The I-T sleuths have seized Rs 106.5 crore in cash, out of which Rs 10 crore were in the denomination of the new Rs 2,000 currency notes and 127 kg of gold bars. The I-T sleuths continued their raids, which was briefly stopped from 2 am till 9 am on Friday, at various locations in Chennai and Vellore. More than 100 officials from the Income Tax department were engaged in the mammoth raids and they had to use currency counting machines to calculate the money seized from the businessmen. The officials had to break open two rooms after Sekhar claimed to have lost the keys to the doors and found carton boxes filled with cash and jewellery. They collected material evidence that suggested Sekhar’s links with a senior IAS official in Tamil Nadu. 

When officials question him on the source of the cash and gold, he insisted that all the assets belonged to him. However, he could not produce any documentary evidence to back his claim. The officials are now trying to identify other areas where Sekhar could have stashed away money and gold. The officials are investigating how Reddy managed to exchange such a large amount of cash for the new currency and are probing to find out what he intended to do with the remaining demonetised currency notes. 

I-T sources said fresh seizures were made on Friday and revealed that a final figure will be released after calculating the value of the seized assets. The sources said the raids will continue in the coming days on the premises of businessmen who were close to the Reddys and also some politicians would also come under the I-T scanner.  This is one of the biggest seizer of the cash and gold by the IT department in Tamil Nadu.