According to sources the Income Tax Department has attached "benami" assets worth Rs 1,600 crore belonging to VK Sasikala, an aide to former tamilnadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, officials said on Tuesday. Meanwhile nine properties, located in chennai, puducherry and coimbatore, were procured soon after demonetization in november 2016 when prime minister narendra modi declared that the two high value notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 are not legal tenders.
Furthermore sources said these alleged 'benami' assets were purchased by VK Sasikala by using about Rs 1,500 crore of demonetized notes and the assets were taken under fictitious identities. Perhaps the officials said a provisional order of attachment against VK Sasikala, lodged in a jail in bengaluru after being convicted in a disproportionate assets case, has been issued under section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 and the law was lying inoperative and was enforced from november 2016 by the modi government.
Moreover the tax department had conducted massive raids against Sasikala and a few others in 2017 and it is understood that the documents about these assets were recovered then. She has been questioned by tax officials in connection with this case in the past. Apparently Sasikala, who took over the reins of the AIADMK after the death of jayalalitha in december 2016, was later removed from the party by the chief minister K Palaniswami led camp.
