The already tense political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu due to the crucial April 12 byelection to the RK Nagar Assembly constituency got surcharged on Friday with the sleuths of the Income Tax Department launching massive raids in the residential and business establishments of Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar in the Edappadi Palaniswamy Government.
Nearly 200 officials of the Income Tax Department swooped down on 36 locations owned by Vijayabhaskar and his family members spread across Chennai, Puthukottai Tiruchirappalli and Namakkal from 6 am.
The official residence of the Minister, a close confidant of the jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala, too was raided by the team.
Vijayabhaskar termed the raids as an act of political victimisation and an attempt to finish off his “honest political career”.
“I am not being allowed to go out of the house or to speak to the media. These officials are threatening me and other members of my family, including my school-going children,” the Minister was heard lamenting to reporters who rushed to his Greenways Road official residence on hearing about the news.
Residences of film actor Sarat Kumar, MGR Medical University Vice-Chancellor Dr Geeta lakshmi, AIADMK (Amma) leaders C Rajendran and Karthikeyan too were raided by the team of officials from the Income Tax Department.
Interestingly, Sarat Kumar, who heads the All India Samathuva Katchi, a political outfit of the powerful Nadar community, had declared on Thursday his support for TTV Dhinakaran, candidate of the AIADMK (Amma) faction in the April 12 bypoll.
“I was supposed to begin the campaign at R K Nagar today (Friday) but could not do so because of the raid by the Income Tax Department officials. They were asking me how much I money I took from the AIADMK for my decision to support Dhinakaran,” said Sarat Kumar while speaking to reporters.
Vijayabhaskar, who owns blue metal crushing units and engineering colleges in various parts of the State, was in the forefront of the AIADMK legislators to make Sasikala the general secretary as well as the Chief Minister after the demise of Jayalalithaa.
The IT team remained incommunicado making it impossible to find out whether any incriminating documents or materials have been seized in the raids. Tamil satellite news channels beamed images of the palatial residence of Vijayabhaskar in Pudukottai district being raided by the income tax officials.
A fleet of swanky high end cars were seen parked in the pathway to the sprawling castle.
The Pioneer had reported on Thursday about the unprecedented distribution of cash and gifts in the RK Nagar constituency in the run up to the bypoll. Dalavai Sundaram, senior leader of the AIADMK (Amma) faction alleged that the raids on Friday were an attempt to sabotage the winning chances of Dhinakaran, the party candidate in the bypoll. “The timing of the raids itself is an indication that they have an ulterior motive,” said Sundaram, who was appointed as party leader by Sasikala.
There has been no communication from the Income Tax Department at the time of going to the press. But local media were rife with reports that the sleuths seized lakhs of rupees of unaccounted money in the raids.