Documents seized from Kodanad estate

OOTY: The Income Tax (I-T) department officials continued their raids at the Kodanad Estate for the second consecutive day on Friday.  The raid began on Friday by 7 am continued well after sunset. The I-T sleuths who entered the 'Green T Estate' premises, the Curzon sector of the Kodanad estate holdings, on Thursday morning continued their raids there till about 10 pm on Thursday night and are learnt to have stayed back there by keeping the estate manager Mr Natarajan and other staff under their custody. On Friday they continued their search since 7 am.

While a batch of I-T officials left the Curzon premises on Friday afternoon, another batch of officials stayed back and continued their work. Though the I-T officials chose to be tight-lipped, sources said that during the search on Thursday the I-T sleuths seized several indiscriminating documents of financial dealings and properties, and, that led them to stay back to verify them to ascertain some facts.

Sources further added that the I-T officials are grilling the estate manager about the transactions done immediately after the demonetisation last November and the connections between the estate management and one Sajeevan, the timber trader in Nilgiris whose properties had been raided on Thursday, to ascertain whether he was used to exchange money and acquiring properties.  The I-T officials also verified a nationalised bank account in Elada near Kodanad to know whether the estate employees were made to exchange notes post-de-monitisation.  The role of a particular manager in the bank and his connections with Kodanad estate management and sanction of loans and handling of the estate transactions is also being probed, sources stated.