Whose money is it anyway?

I-T department has made its biggest seizure ever, after the demonetization move. But what is surprising is that out of the seized amount, 10 crores is already stashed in the new Rs 2,000 currency, thus mocking at the government’s so-called yagna against black money!

The Income tax officials( more than 100), probably had a tip-off and seized Rs 106 crores in currency and 127 kg of gold bars in Chennai. Out of the 106 crores, Rs 96 crore was in old demonetized currencies( Rs.500 and 1,000 notes) and Rs 10 crore in the newly introduced Rs 2,000 denomination currency. Clearly a sign that many bank officials were involved in this huge money-laundering racket.

‘Needed many counting machines’

“The raids are continuing in nine places in Chennai and Vellore. The amount seized is the maximum seizure so far, and we may be able to seize more cash,” a senior I-T official told the media.

The raided premises belong to industrialist Shekhar Reddy and his brother and associate Srinivasa Reddy and their agents, including a person called Prem Kumar. Shekar Reddy is a contractor for Tamil Nadu state public works department (PWD) and has several contracts with PWD as well as other state government departments.

The TTD Connection

Shekhar Reddy is also a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust. He was appointed to the Board after N Chandrababu Naidu became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Shekhar Reddy runs sand mining business and is said to have lucrative contracts from the Tamil Nadu government. He is also one of the few people who had direct access to Poes Gardens, the residence of late chief minister Jayalalitha.

He has also visited the former late Chief Minister Jayalalitha in Apollo hospital last month, bearing ‘prasad’ for her. In the above photograph he is seen escorting the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the trusted loyalist of Jayalalitha, O.Paneerselvam, when he visited Tirupati last year. We do not need much imagination to guess the political party behind this huge cache.