Minister’s father, brother questioned

They claimed that they had been prompt in paying taxes and the raids were purely based on political vendetta. 

On Friday, as part of simultaneous raids by the I-T sleuths, searches were conducted at the minister’s house at Iluppur in Pudukkottai, his family business establishments and the group of 11 educational institutions run by his family and reportedly seized documents valued several hundred crores and several kilograms of gold. 

The officials who sealed the locker where they had stored the documents and jewels, summoned them for an inquiry at the Income Tax Divisional office here. 

As per the instructions R Chinna Thambi, father of Vijaya Baskar and Udayakumar, his brother arrived at the IT office at around 11.30 am along with their auditor Jayaraman and appeared before the Joint Director of Income Tax (Investigations) of Coimbatore, Senthil Kumar and Assistant Director Yasar Arafat. 

The officials conducted inquiry with the duo and their auditor till 1.30 pm. They explained the wealth details belonging to their family. It is said that when the officials questioned them about the means of capital investments for the business and educational institutions, the duo struggled to provide convincing answers. Subsequently, they were told that they may be called for another round of inquiry. 

Prior to the investigation, Chinna Thambi spoke to the reporters and said he was not able to follow the summon as he was illiterate. He also said that the properties were legally acquired and they were paying the taxes promptly. “It is an act of political vendetta. The searches are held to malign my son (Vijaya Baskar),” he said and added that the family members cooperated well with the I-T officials during the searches.