Income Tax raids on Jaya TV continue, bank accounts of Sasikala's nephew frozen: Report

Income Tax raids were again conducted on the offices of prominent Tamil channel Jaya TV in Chennai today.

The raids were previously conducted on Jaya TV premises in Chennai on November 9.

Jaya TV was founded by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The channel is now controlled by VK Sasikala's family members. Its managing director is Sasikala's nephew Vivek Jayaraman. 

At least 100 bank accounts of shell companies allegedly managed by Vivek Jayaraman have been frozen, I-T sources told the Times of India (TOI) on Saturday.

Income Tax officials alleged that crores of money was deposited in the accounts  after demonetisation, TOI reported.

"We froze 100 bank accounts after we found that they belong to 20-odd shell companies. Crores of rupees were deposited in them soon after demonetisation was announced last year. The accounts were being operated by Vivek Jayaraman," a senior I-T official told TOI. "We recovered many documents relating to these shell companies from Vivek's house. Some documents were seized from the houses of his sister Krishna Priya and an auditor. We are also examining documents of some properties held by benamis," said the official.

Income tax raids also began on November 9 at 188 properties  in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Bengaluru and Hyderabad owned by Sasikala, her family and associates, the TOI report said.

Rs 6 crore in cash, 8.5 kg gold, other valuables and documents relating to investments worth Rs 1,200 crore of unaccounted money were recovered, the report added.

While most of the raids were completed on Saturday, searches are continuing in Jaya TV office and houses of Vivek and Krishna Priya, the Times of India report said.

The channel had been critical of the current Tamil Nadu government, the TOI reported earlier.

"People are watching everything, they understand what is going on," Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran said of the raids. 

"If the Centre thinks they can destroy us by conducting such raids, they are day-dreaming," he added.