Chennai sources stated that the Income-Tax Department had conducted searches at multiple locations in Tamilnadu on suspicion of alleged illegal cash being pumped in to lure voters in the poll-bound state and seized cash of about Rs 15 crore. The officials said “A total of 18 locations in Chennai, Namakkal and Tirunelveli are being raided since early morning hours”.
Meanwhile in the first instance, tax sleuths searched the premises of a contractor firm PSK Engineering Construction Company on charges of routing and possession of alleged "unaccounted cash" and three premises in Chennai and four linked to the company in Namakkal are being raided. A senior official said "Unaccounted cash of Rs 14.54 crore, with Rs 13.80 crore from four premises belonging to the construction company, has been seized”.
Moreover in the second case, the Chennai investigation wing of the department searched a group of cash handlers and financiers against whom the sleuths obtained information that they are allegedly "mobilizing cash for possible use in elections, where a total cash of Rs 14.72 crore has been seized till now in both the searches. Apparently polls in the 39 seats of Tamilnadu and the lone seat in Puducherry would be held on April 18, the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
