Jolt to Sasikala: HC upholds 2-year jail for her husband

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 06:02 EST
 
 

CHENNAI: In yet another setback for Sasikala and her family, the Madras High Court upheld the two-year sentence given to her husband M Natarajan, and a relative in 2010 in the Lexus import case. A Lexus car from the UK was imported into the country, by the latter, with forged invoices in 1994. The new find has served as a fresh jolt for Sasikala and does not bode well for her ongoing disproportionate assets case.

Meanwhile, in its search operations in Sasikala's properties, the Income Tax department claimed to have unearthed cash, valuables, and documents related to undisclosed income calculated approximately at £143 million. Premises raided included offices of AIADMK mouthpiece Jaya TV, offices and houses of Sasikala's nephew Vivek Jayaraman and his sister, Natarajan's Thanjavur house, and Sengamalathaayar College in Thanjavur, owned by Sasikala's brother Divakaran. Giving details of the search operations, a senior IT officer in Chennai said, “We are still assessing more incriminating documents and their value. They (accused) used shell companies to route undisclosed cash, to be invested in real estate businesses later, buying vehicles, etc. We found many shell companies lying idle were suddenly activated after demonetisation (last November).”

The official also said that huge amounts of money were deposited in accounts of these firms, which were subsequently withdrawn in cash to “officially use them (in) white on the market.” The Income Tax sleuths also raided the premises of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Poes garden. The operation launched was only confined to Jayalalitha’s aide Poongundran’s room. “We have not searched the entire Poes Garden premises. Our team searched only Poongundran’s room, records room and other room used by Sasikala,” the top Income Tax official said.


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