Properties of health minister C Vijayabhaskar frozen

PUDUKKOTTAI: One hundred acres of land and a quarry in Thiruvengaivasal near here owned by Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar and his family have been ‘frozen’ by the Pudukkottai district administration on Tuesday on instructions from the Income-Tax department.

Sources said the I-T department sent a formal communication to District Registrar Sasikala asking her to “freeze” the 100-acre land and the quarry based on their initial assessment of the raids that took place at these premises in April this year.

I-T sleuths had raided the official residence of Vijayabhaskar and properties owned by his family and the family in April in the run up to the R K Nagar by-election, which was cancelled due to rampant distribution of money to voters.

The I-T sleuths had also seized some “incriminating documents” from Vijayabhaskar’s residence and other premises. Sources said a team from the Pudukkottai District Registration Department ‘froze’ the properties on Tuesday. “The action was taken after the I-T department asked us to freeze them through an official communication via e-mail,” sources said.

 Though there was no official word on the “freeze” from I-T department and the district administration, sources said the properties were “frozen.” The Minister, his wife and his father were questioned by the I-T sleuths more than once regarding the raids and grilled them for hours after confronting them with the “documents” seized.

The quarry spread over more than a hundred acres was also raided in April. However, there was no notice on confiscation or freezing of the property pasted on the premises, locals said.department.