CBI grills Vijaya Baskar, Ramana for 8 hours

Ramana reached the CBI office on the third floor of Shastri Bhavan around 10.30 am, sources said. Though he was asked to appear for interrogation only in the afternoon, Health Minister Vijaya Baskar reached the office around 7 am itself, apparently to avoid media attention, added sources. His secretary Saravanan was also grilled by CBI officials, who reached the city from New Delhi on Friday night. The presence of Vijaya Baskar’s advocate also confirmed the Health Minister’s arrival for interrogation.

After the minister and his former cabinet colleague reached the CBI office, they were issued the charge sheet and were made to wait for their turn for interrogation. The inquiry concluded around 7 pm after which the three were let off. Vijaya Baskar is said to have exited through the rear gate to escape the media.

This is the third time that CBI has summoned Saravanan, while he excused himself from appearing before them on two occasions citing his inability. In November, the agency had submitted charge sheets against six suspects on completion of the first round of investigation into the case. However, soon after this, the team investigating the case was reshuffled.

It may be recalled that CBI had searched the houses of the Health Minister and two police officers in the rank of DGP in September. The gutkha scam relates to the alleged payment of bribes to the tune of several crores to a minister, IPS officers and others by the gutkha manufacturer Madhava Rao to allow the illegal sale of the banned tobacco product in Chennai. Madhavar Rao and four others were arrested in 2016 after raids at a godown in Redhills unearthed hidden gutkha worth in crores.