It is rumoured strongly in regional press that the income-tax authorities who conducted raids at former Tamil Nadu chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence in Chennai had managed to lay their hands on an important ‘list’ giving details of Sasikala’s ‘hidden properties’ as well as under whose names (benamis) the said properties had been ‘kept’.

J. Jayalalithaa’s demise under mysterious circumstances last year not only created a huge void in the State’s politics but also upset the balance of the ruling AIADMK which split into two factions. Sasikala, who was on parole for a few days last month, is said to have transferred Rs.600 crore worth properties from her ailing husband Natarajan to her name while she was staying at Krishnapriya’s T.Nagar residence.

Apparently acting on a tip-off, income-tax officials raided the premises of Sasikala’s friends and relatives in Chennai and elsewhere – 187 places to be precise – for 5 days before the chose to raid the Poes Garden residence of the former chief-minister late in the night during weekends. The raids unearthed tax evasion ‘crime’ to the tune of Rs.1000 crores besides resulting in recovery of documents worth Rs.1400 crores, Rs.7 crores in liuid cash and gold/diamond jewellery worth Rs.5 crores.

Jayalalithaa’s private secretary Poonkundran’s room at the Garden was also thoroughly searched; so was Sasikala’s room. A few computers and hard-disks were recovered and it is said that the authorities are now in possession of a list revealing under whose ‘benami’ names the properties worth thousands of crores have been ‘kept’ secretly.