New Delhi: The Income Tax (I-T) Department Monday conducted raids at over 50 locations in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Hosur, in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion involving G Square Realtors. The owners of the construction firm are allegedly close to the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Searches were conducted at the residence of DMK MLA M.K. Mohan, believed to be a close confidant of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, and the auditor of Stalin’s son-in-law, V. Sabareesan, I-T sources confirmed to ThePrint. The auditor’s name was not disclosed.
“The searches are on. We cannot share anything more at this stage,” an I-T official said. The extent of the alleged tax evasion and the period during which it was allegedly conducted have not been shared yet.
While talking to the media last week, Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K. Annamalai had alleged that the DMK has close links with G Square and that this is why the revenue of the real estate firm had swelled since the current government under Stalin was formed in 2021.
Annamalai had also at the same time released a list of alleged assets of DMK leaders and their family members, ministers, MPs and MLAs, as part of a purported expose, which he called the ‘DMK Files’. The DMK had then sent multiple legal notices to Annamalai and refuted the allegations.
Reacting to the raids, state BJP vice president Narayanan Thirupathy tweeted Monday that “G Square gives explanation to Annamalai’s charges”.
Speaking to ThePrint the same day he alleged, “Even a Child in Tamil Nadu knows that G-Square is a company that has grown aggressively only in the last two years, that is during this government. The ties with Mohan, MLA and its proximity to Sabareesan are known. By using the power of the first family this company has become an Octopus.”
In a statement it issued, the company said it has been subjected to “unwarranted persecution” over the last couple of months through “unfounded allegations with no evidence”.
“Even though it has been an incredibly challenging time for us, we are grateful that measures are now being taken to validate the legitimacy of these claims. We want to take this opportunity to emphatically state that there is no truth in these allegations,” Praveen Kumar C., head of communications of G Realtors, said.
Last week, BJP leaders widely shared an unverified audio clip on social media purportedly of Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), in which he allegedly said how Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi, and his son-in-law Sabareesan have “realised they have made more money in one year… now it is getting into a problem”.
PTR strongly refuted having anything to do with the audio clip, claiming it was “fabricated.”
A delegation of Tamil Nadu BJP leaders met Governor R.N. Ravi Sunday asking for an inquiry into the red tape.
The Print reached two DMK leaders on call, but they did not want to comment on the raids, saying party members have already issued a legal notice to Annamalai on allegations made in the ‘DMK Files’.
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Not the first time
According to I-T sources, G Square Realtors Private Limited is a private company which was incorporated on 12 October, 2012.
This is reportedly not the first I-T raid linked to the company.
According to media reports, in 2019 too the I-T department had conducted searches at several premises of G Square Realtors in Tamil Nadu for alleged tax evasion.
According to sources in the I-T, they had then received a tip-off about income suppression and money being routed to evade taxes. The sources also alleged that G Square has aggregated land for big corporates to set up manufacturing plants and I-T parks in Tamil Nadu.
This is an updated version of this report.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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