Unconstitutional assault': After raids, ex-TN Chief Secy claims life in danger

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao, who was removed after unprecedented tax raids at his home and office, alleged on Tuesday that he was being targeted and his life is in danger.

He also declared, “I am still Chief Secretary. The government doesn't have guts to serve me transfer orders.”

“I-T search warrant did not contain my name and still I was under house arrest. It is an unconstitutional assault on Chief Secretary's office.”

“CRPF entered my house; they showed me the search warrant, which had name of my son. They found nothing; no incriminate documents, no secret chamber,” says P Rama Mohana Rao.

“What role or business does CRPF have to enter Chief Secretary's chamber? Did they get CM's permission? Isn't this unconstitutional assault? Where is the state government?” questioned Rao.

Harping on to the fact that he was handpicked by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to the top post, Rao sought to know whether the CRPF would have dared to enter the premises of the State Secretariat if the late CM was alive.

“I was appointed to this post by Puratchi Thalaivi and this government does not have the guts to serve my transfer order to me. I am still the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. May be the new person has been made in-charge, but I am the Chief Secretary,” he said.

“I was nurtured by her for so many years. I have known her since I was Chengalpet collector way back in 1994. And for the past five and a half years, she nurtured me and she trained me. She has taught me everything,” Rao said.

Rao further denied any links with sand mining baron and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthana member Shekar Reddy. “I don’t have any links with Shekhar Reddy. I have no business links with him. I know thousands of people in Tamil Nadu from Ramnad to Chennai. I have been staying in Tamil Nadu for 32 years now.”

Rao also thanked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for speaking in his support.

Widening its probe, the Income Tax Department has summoned P Rama Mohana Rao’s son in connection with its tax evasion investigation against sand mining operators of the state where one of the biggest seizures of cash and gold was made by the taxman in the aftermath of demonetisation.

Officials said while Rao's son Vivek Papisetty was first summoned to join investigations last week, after searches were carried out against him and his family on December 21, and now fresh reminders have again been sent to him in this regard.

They said Vivek has informed the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case that he would join the probe soon and has cited his wife's illness as the reason for not being able to do so till now.

The department, it is understood, wants to confront and question Vivek regarding a number of seizures of documents made by the sleuths from his and his kins' locations and from the premises of Shankar Reddy after searches were first carried out against the latter here earlier this month.

I-T officials had earlier claimed that Vivek had "admitted to a total unaccounted income of about Rs 17 crore", a day after I-T raids were carried out at the top bureaucrat's house and other premises linked to his kin.

Last week, the department had launched searches on at least 15 premises related to Vivek and others and had claimed to have seized Rs 30 lakh in new currency and five kg gold.

The Tamil Nadu government, on the very next day of raids on December 22, had replaced Rao from the top bureaucratic post and had appointed senior IAS officer and Additional Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan as the new Chief Secretary.

The I-T case emerges from the to biggest cash haul of new notes post demonetisation after the department raided some sand mining operators of Tamil Nadu.

Over Rs 142 crore unaccounted assets have been recovered so far by the department in this case apart from seizure of Rs 34 crore in new notes.

The total cash seizure in this instance was over Rs 170 crore and this has become the single largest case of disclosure of undisclosed assets post the note ban.