Taxmen raid Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence

In a late-night swoop, income tax authorities raided ‘Veda Nilayam’, the Poes Garden residence of former Tamil Nadu chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa, in the late hours of Friday (17th November).

The former chief-minister’s residence is raided for the second time in 21 years after 1996 which paved the way for filing of cases against her in the misappropriation of assets case. A 3-member team from the Income Tax office, which conducted the raids, was accompanied by a heavy posse of police force even as AIADMK cadres congregated outside the former chief-minister’s residence and raised slogans to condemn the raids.

Jayalalithaa’s secretary Poonkundran’s room was first raided, followed by raids conducted at his Adyar residence in Chennai. Vivek, Jaya TV’s CEO and son of Jayalalithaa’s former aide Sasikala’s sister-in-law Ilavarasi, was at the residence when the raids took place.  A lap-top and four pen-drives were recovered during the raids.

A few electronic devices were ‘removed’ from Sasikala’s room, it is pointed out. The raids are a corollary to last week’s non-stop 5-day long raids conducted on a large-scale by income-tax authorities at premises/establishments owned by Sasikala, her friends, relatives and family members in Chennai and elsewhere.