Bengaluru: Suspended officials T N Chikkarayappa and S C Jayachandra were questioned by the Enforcement Directorate over the large amounts of cash and property documents unearthed by the Income Tax Department from their residences.
Both accused did not cooperate with officials, said sources. The officials have now have issued a notice to Trijesh, son of Jayachandra, and his wife Bharathi. It is learnt that the officials decided to question Trijesh and Bharathi as Jayachandra refused to reveal details.
According to sources, Jayachandra has a firm called Sakhya Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, which was granting tenders illegally. Trijesh and Bharathi are directors of the firm and the ED has decided to look into the firm’s transactions.
The ED sought information from Revenue and Customs departments regarding transactions and Trijesh’s imported vehicles. The arrested are likely to be questioned on Monday as well.
Meanwhile, CBI too questioned T N Chikkarayappa and S C Jayachandra and three others.
According to the sources, a family member of one of the officials, a contractor and a bank manager were being questioned till late in the night at the CBI’s Ganganagar office. The sources said that an FIR has been registered, and they are likely to be arrested on Monday. Investigators have also sealed off all the premises from where the new currency cache was recovered by IT sleuths.
The probes by the two Central agencies are said to be following a preliminary report submitted to the Reserve Bank of India by the I-T sleuths over the cash haul. The CBI has no jurisdiction over the two State government employees. Chikkarayappa is the managing director of Kaveri Neeravari Nigam Limited and Jayachandra is the chief project officer, Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project. However, sources said the CBI used a technicality to investigate the matter. It registered a case against unidentified bank employees for illegally laundering Rs. 2,000 notes to begin the probe. I-T sleuths had recovered Rs. 5.7 crore in Rs. 2,000 denomination, allegedly sourced from a private bank, from the state government officers’ residences.
It may be recalled unaccounted wealth of Rs 152 crore, including Rs 5.7 crore cash in Rs 2,000 denomination notes, was unearthed recently.
See more:
*Rs 30 lakh unaccounted cash seized in Bengaluru, three held
*IT raids: Rs. 152 crore unearthed in 3 days
*IT seizure: State govt suspends 2 corrupt officials
*Rs.6 crore cash, 7kg gold haul in Bengaluru tax raids
*I-T raid on residence of Chief Minister’s close aide
