Income tax officials raid residence of DMK leader Durai Murugan

Income tax officials on March 29 conducted searches at the residence of senior DMK leader Durai Murugan at Katpadi in Vellore district over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering.

This comes days after tax raids led to a political storm in neighbouring Karnataka. The tax officials along with personnel from the election flying squad arrived late on March 29 at the residence of the DMK treasurer and conducted searches early on March 30. Highly placed sources in the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department told PTI that the raids were carried out. They indicated that the searches were carried out to detect suspected tax evasion through the use of unaccounted money for electioneering.

The DMK has fielded Durai Murugan’s son, DM Kathir Anand, from the Vellore seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Durai Murugan alleged that the raids were a “conspiracy” by some political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena. “They (tax officials) have gone with the understanding that we have nothing (to hide),” he told reporters.

The DMK leader also questioned the timing of the raid. “This is not the time to hold searches, be it tax or other authorities, when we are in the midst of full-fledged election campaign,” he said.