TN - IT Raid at Saravana Stores unearth shocking secrets

The Income Tax Department of Tamil Nadu conducted raids at over 70 branches and offices of retail chain Saravana Stores 'brahmandamai'  and retail firms Lotus Group and GSquare in Chennai and Coimbatore on January 29. 

Reportedly, the raids conducted for more than a week unearthed unaccounted cash, documents, gold and diamonds worth several crores of rupees. Overall Rs 433 crore of unaccounted cash has been recovered from various locations. In addition to this, Rs 25 crore in cash, 12 kilograms of gold and 626 carats diamonds were recovered.

According to reports, Saravana Stores owner Yogarathinam Pondurai and his associate Ramajayam alias Bala put most of the documents, cash and diamonds in an SUV and ordered the driver to just keep driving across the city. They also deleted records from the computer and erased CCTV footages.

The vehicle was intercepted with the help of the police. However, not much could be seized from the SUV. The operation ended only after 9 days. Evidence of huge transactions between Pondurai and Bala was unearthed.