Chennai sources reported that the CBI on Tuesday arrested Sivakumar, a health inspector with the TN Food Safety department in connection with the multi-crore Gutkha scam and moreover he is the sixth person to be apprehended by the CBI in connection with the case. Furthermore according to reports, Sivakumar had approached the Supreme Court challenging the transfer of the probe to the CBI.
Reports added the case was transferred to the CBI by the Madras High Court in May and the agency registered an FIR the same month. Sivakumar has been remanded to judicial custody till October 4. Further the CBI had, on September 6, arrested five people in connection with the scam. Promoters of Jayam Industries AV Madhavrao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao, Dr Senthil Murugan of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and NK Pandian, Superintendent in the Central Excise Department were arrested a day after the CBI conducted raids in around 35 locations across the country.
Moreover the scam came out in the open
following Income Tax raids conducted on July 8, 2017, at the godown, offices
and residences of a pan masala and gutkha manufacturer in Tamilnadu, for tax
evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. At last the Tiruvallur police have
activated a separate mobile number to alert them on the illegal sale of gutkha
and other banned tobacco-based substances and the complaints can be registered
at 9444042322.
