New Delhi: Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the Income Tax officials are searching residences and offices of noted politicians, individuals and organisations to ‘clean-up’ the system of illicit funds exchanging hands.
The I-T sleuths searched premises of Kamal Haasan’s close aide A Chandrashekhar, who is also the treasurer of Makka Needhi Maiam (MNM). The raids took place on Wednesday and apparently continued on Thursday also. South superstar Kamal Haasan founded the Makka Needhi Maiam in 2018 while announcing his plunge into active politics.
Raid were conducted at Chandrashekhar’s Madurai & Tiruppur offices and as per reports Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash has also been seized by the sleuths.
DMK & MDMK leaders under IT lens
I-T officials also searched offices and residences of DMK and MDMK leaders. As per reports, searches were conducted in DMK’s KS Dhanasekar and MDMK’s Kavin Nagaraj.
As per reports, the I-T department has seized about Rs 400 crore from various parts of the state in just one week.
Elections are scheduled to be held in a single-phase in Tamil Nadu, with the polling of votes on April 6 followed by the declaration of results on May 2.
I-T raids politically motivated, says Kamal Haasan
MNM founder and president Kamal Haasan termed the I-T raids as politically motivated. The megastar said that he & his party will not be cowed down by such intimidatory tactics. He also claimed that unlike other parties, his candidates possess clean track record and seek to bring probity in polls.
Kamal Haasan declared Rs 176 cr assets in poll affidavit
In the poll affidavit, MNM president Kamal Haasan had declared moveable assets worth Rs 46 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 131 crore. The actor-turned-politician declared Rs 2.43 crore in bank deposits, Rs 26.1 lakh in investments such as mutual funds and shares, Rs 2.39 crore in insurance, Rs 36.24 crore in personal loans, and Rs 3.69 crore in vehicles. Kamal Haasan also owns agricultural land sprawled across 35.59 acres valued at Rs 17.77 crore while the value of the actor’s commercial establishments in the state capital is valued at Rs 92.05 crore, reported a leading daily.
