Gutkha scam: 1 more official held

Sivakumar was incharge of the area where the gutkha godown near Red Hills was functioning, sources added. After the arrest, he was produced before a court for CBI cases and was remanded in judicial custody till October 4.  Sources noted that it was Sivakumar who approached the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court order transferring the case to CBI. 

CBI in the first week of September had arrested with Dr P Senthil Murugan of Food Safety and Drug Administration Department and NK Pandian, a superintendent of Central Excise Department, besides AV Madhava Rao, Srinivasa Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta,the promoters of Annamalai Industries. 

Before the arrest, investigators had conducted searches at as many as 35 premises including the houses of Health Minister C VijayaBaskar, police chief TK Rajendran and retired DGP S George, the former Chennai police commissioner, in connection with the case of illegal sale of gutkha and alleged payment of bribe to government officials and ministers to the tune of Rs 40 crore.