Chennai, Nov. 18 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar on Saturday blamed jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala and her family for the Income Tax (IT) raids at late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s residence late on Friday night.
J. Deepa, niece of Jayalalithaa, also termed the raid a conspiracy of the Sasikala family. She said the IT officials did not inform her about the raid. She is a legal heir of Jayalalithaa.
Speaking to reporters here, Minister Jayakumar said it is “painful” to note the IT raids at Jayalalithaa’s residence.
“It is the family of Sasikala and T.T.V. Dinakaran to be blamed for the IT raid,” Jayakumar said.
Jayakumar said Dinakaran is blaming Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam for political gains.
Responding to the media in Tuticorin (600km from here), Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said: “The raids were done on the basis of specific information and not for political vendetta.”
On Friday night, IT officials recovered a laptop, a desktop and four pen drives from two rooms used by Sasikala at Jayalalithaa’s residence here, said a senior official.
“We received an input that some important electronic storage devices are going to be clandestinely removed from two rooms used by Sasikala in Veda Nilayam (Jayalalithaa’s residence),” the IT official told IANS preferring anonymity on Friday.
According to him, it was a “limited mission”. “We are not searching the entire premises,” he had said.
The raid comes days after IT officials carried out a massive search operation at the residences and premises of Sasikala’s kin and their business associates and unearthed Rs 1,430 crore of tax evasion.
The Friday IT search comes 21 years after an earlier search at Jayalalithaa’s residence.BSF recovers heroin worth over Rs 100 crore in Punjab
Chandigarh, Nov 18 (IANS) In a joint operation, Border Security Forces (BSF) troopers and the Punjab Police have recovered 22kg of heroin in Punjab’s Ferozepur sector following exchange of fire with Pakistani smugglers near the international border, a BSF officer said on Saturday.
The encounter took place late on Friday following a tip-off that smugglers were trying to send heroin consignment into India.
At least one Pakistani smuggler was injured in the exchange of fire as blood stains were found during search of the area on Saturday, BSF officer D.S. Rajpurohit said.The BSF recovered a pistol and one Pakistani Sim card.
The BSF also arrested three Indian smugglers who were waiting close to the border fence to collect the heroin consignment.
The smugglers were trying to smuggle the heroin consignment using a plastic pipe across the border fence.
The heroin is worth nearly Rs 110 crore in the international market.
The Ferozepur border is around 275 km from here.
Punjab shares a 553-km-long barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan.
