Karnataka raids: 15 crore seized from contractor in Chennai raid

The raid on the house of one Sabeshan, a Bengaluru-based contractor, began on Thursday evening. He handles contracts for the Chennai Corporation and is believed to be close to an AIADMK minister. 

“By late evening we seized over Rs 15 crore cash,” an Income-Tax department source said. Other sources added that the sleuths decided to search Sabeshan’s house based on information they gathered during the raids in Mandya, Karnataka.   

Early on Thursday, I-T officials conducted search and seizure operation on the premises of Minister Puttaraju, his relatives and contractors. As many as 13 contractors, four engineers and are being raided in Karnataka, sources here said. Sabeshan’s premises in Karnataka is also being searched by the I-T sleuths.   I-T sources said that the raids were conducted based on information that huge amounts of cash were being kept at the homes of Puttaraju and his supporters. Over 300 I-T officials were engaged in searches including those at Puttaraju’s ancestral home in Mandya.They also conducted searches at the house of the Minister’s nephew Ashok in Mysuru. Ashok is a contractor for national and state highway works.