New Delhi: Income tax officials raided Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M.K. Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan’s residence and office on Friday. Officials carried out searches at four places in Chennai owned by Sabareesan, reported NDTV.
Tax department officials reportedly carried out the raids after they received inputs on the movement of cash related to the election campaign. Leaders and supporters of the DMK gathered at Sabareesan’s home as a show of support.
The raids at the residence of Sabareesan, who is viewed as a key strategist of Stalin’s core team, came a day after Stalin’s son, at a rally near Coimbatore, raised questions regarding the exponential rise in the assets of Jay Shah, home minister Amit Shah’s son.
Another one of the places being searched is a home outside Chennai, where Stalin’s daughter Senthamarai lives with Sabareesan.
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This is the second time that a raid on those affiliated with the DMK has been carried out in the run-up to elections to the Tamil Nadu assembly on April 6. Last week, officials from the Income Tax Department searched senior DMK leader EV Velu’s residence in Tiruvannamalai – the constituency where the 70-year-old is seeking re-election for the upcoming assembly elections.
The raid was conducted at the same time when M.K. Stalin was seen campaigning for Velu in Tiruvannamalai. The raids were carried out based on “credible inputs of cash movement” during the poll campaign, claimed tax officials.
“Conducting searches in the room where DMK chief MK Stalin stayed shows their intention. Nothing has been seized. This won’t stop our victory,” DMK general secretary Duraimurugan had in reference to last week’s raids.
“Since the BJP government came to power, their practice has been to use government institutions during elections to threaten the opposition,” DMK spokesperson C. Ravindran said.