Chennai: Another late night development unfolded at Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence on Friday when I-T officials conducted searches at her residence for over five hours.
“We received inputs that some important electronic storage devices were going to be clandestinely removed from two rooms used by Sasikala in the Poes Garden residence. So, we went on a limited mission and recovered a laptop, four pen drives and a desktop. We are not searching the entire premises," said a senior I-T official.
A source department, though, added that Jaya's PA Poongundran’s residence was also raided.
As news of the raids broke, TTV supporters gathered outside the Poes Garden residence and raised slogans against the central government. They were later detained by police officials.
Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa’s niece, Deepa Jayakumar arrived at the house and claimed the whole episode to be a conspiracy by the Sasikala faction. "I-T did not inform us about the raids. They broke into our property. It's illegal. I am going to take legal action against them. I am the rightful heir of Jayalalithaa. It's a conspiracy by Sasikala and her family," she added.
After the searches concluded, Vivek Jayaraman, Sasikala's nephew, who was the prime focus of the raids that were conducted last week, said he is hurt by the raids but does not know if they were politically motivated.
"They came with a warrant to search the house. We did not allow them to search Amma’s room. This is the place where Jayalalithaa lived. This is a temple. We are hurt today because of these raids. They took the letters that people wrote for Amma. I have no answer to whether there is political vendetta to the raids. We have to wait and see,” said Jayaraman.
Meanwhile, TTV Dinakaran has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government during a public address in Tuticorin and said, “When Amma was in the hospital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claims that he was her friend, never visited. Today, he has gone and visited DMK Chief Karunanidhi. We never made this a political issue. A shrine of the AIADMK, used by the late Chief Minister, was raided and neither EPS nor OPS or any other ministers were at the venue. This shows that OPS and EPS will go to any extent to safeguard their positions. I-T have recovered only a laptop, a few pen drives and party related letters. They were searching for a huge amount of money, gold and other materials. Arun Jaitley and the PM are trying to destroy our family using the agency. We are not scared and we will not run away."
The merged AIADMK faction too said they are hurt by the raids but blamed Sasikala's family for the raids. V Maitreyan, AIADMK MP took to Twitter and said, “Amma's residence is a temple. Really sad and painful to know that Amma's residence is being raided."
Deputy Lok Sabha Speaker M Thambidurai said, “Jayalalithaa's residence is a holy place. Whoever brings disgrace to this temple (Veda Nilayam) will not be accepted. I will meet Chief Minister Edapadi Palaniswamy in this regard and then share my opinion."
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson, Narayanan Tirupathi said, “There is no place for sentiments as far as the raid at Poes Garden is concerned. I-T has the right to inspect anywhere and investigate anybody according to the law. They are doing their duty."
“If anyone wants to hide from the frauds he/she committed, we will see to it that they don't run away. Raids are conducted based on prima facie evidence,” he added.
DMK, however, played a wait-and-watch game. Manu Sundaram, the party spokesperson said, "The first time Poes Garden was raided (1996), it showed the world the excessive wealth, which led to the conviction of Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and others. While we wait to see what today's raids will unravel, we must also question what has been the outcome in the recent raids of Karur Anbunathan, Ram Mohana Rao, Sekar Reddy and Vijay Bhaskar. The BJP and all factions of AIADMK have much to answer."
