Having conducted multiple raids in the months following Sasikala’s imprisonment in the Disproportionate Assets case, the Income Tax Department is finally set to quiz her in prison. The quizzing is necessitated by IT officials discovering documents related to shell companies during the raids at the Poes Garden residence of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Since November 2017, the Income Tax department has conducted raids at nearly 200 location across the state as part of ‘Operation Clean Money’. During these raids, the IT sleuths reportedly discovered incriminating details upon searching rooms belonging to Sasikala at Jayalalithaa’s Veda Nilayam residence.
According to one report, IT officials were unable to get satisfactory testimonies from Sasikala’s relatives- Vivek Jayaraman, Sasikala’s nephew and Krishnapriya, Sasikala’s niece. They had also quizzed Jayalalithaa’s personal assistant S Poongundran.
However, Sasikala, who is currently lodged at the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru has been on a vow of silence following the release of a video of her close aide and sister-figure J Jayalalithaa in hospital. Jayalalithaa was seen in hospital clothing, sipping on a what appeared to be a cup of juice. Sasikala’s nephew and RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran informed media persons that Sasikala would continue her vow of silence till the end of February.
However, Sasikala had responded to IT summons and said she could talk only after February 10. It is expected that the IT officials, who have sent a letter to the prison authorities, would go about probing her after February 10.
According to a report in TNIE, a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, six pen drives and, other incriminating documents were found at the residence. All these evidences are allegedly piling up in a massive tax evasion case which includes the setting up of shell companies. However, an official government file regarding the ongoing multi-crore gutkha scam was also recovered at Sasikala’s room in the residence.
Sasikala is already serving a four-year jail term on account of her criminal involvement in the Disproportionate Assets case.