MADURAI: A ten-member team from the income tax (I-T) department conducted a search at the office-cum-residence of DMK candidate for the Tuticorin Lok Sabha seat, K Kanimozhi , at Kurinji Nagar in Tuticorin city on Tuesday night. Addressing reporters after the raid, the DMK women’s wing secretary and Rajya Sabha MP said that the IT officials returned empty-handed and called the raid a targeted attempt by the BJP due to fear of defeat. The sleuths reached the house with police force around 8.30 pm, shortly after the candidate returned from her campaign. “We received information from Tuticorin collector that the upper portion of the residence is being used for storing cash. Based on information from the collector, we entered the residence along with two squads,” said a senior income-tax investigation official. After nearly two hours of search and quizzing, the sleuths left the place at 10.30 pm. Tense moments prevailed as hundreds of DMK cadres thronged the place and started raising slogans against the police for not allowing them into the house whose entry and exit were blocked. They condemned the BJP and AIADMK governments for allegedly trying to tarnish the image of their party. Police protection was stepped up to bring the situation under control. The DMK supporters said it was a deliberate attempt against their candidate with only two days left for the election in which she has been pitted against BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan. Anitha R Radhakrishnan (Tiruchendur MLA and DMK Tuticorin south district secretary) and P Geetha Jeevan (Tuticorin MLA and Tuticorin north district secretary) reached the spot as raids were under way. Speaking to reporters after the officials left, Kanimozhi told reporters that the raid concluded at 9.30 following which she was summoned to immediately answer their queries on the spot. “As far as I know it is against the law. I was searched because I am the opposition candidate,” she said and claimed that the officials agreed that there was no money in the house. “I also told them that several crores of rupees have been stacked up in the house of Tamilisai. Is the police ready to go for a raid there? They think we will be threatened by the raids. They conducted such searches in the offices of the two district secretaries and at the farm land of Anitha Radhakrishnan. They have not got anything in these raids,” she said. Kanimozhi said that the searches could be an attempt to stop the elections in Tuticorin due to fear of defeat – just like what happened at Vellore. “This is against democracy . DMK is not afraid of it. We will face anything as we have faced worse things in the past. Election commission and IT department are used by Modi to strengthen his alliance and threaten the opposition,” she added. Facebook Twitter Linkedin EMail<doc-sep>These tactics won't scare the DMK: Kanimozhi after I-T searches at her house Income Tax officials raided Kanimozhi’s residence at 8.30pm on Tuesday evening and concluded the search two hours later. news Lok Sabha 2019 “DMK will face anything, we are not afraid of this,” said DMK candidate for Thoothukudi parliamentary constituency Kanimozhi on Tuesday evening just after Income Tax officials raided her residence. Speaking to reporters at 10.44pm on Tuesday, Kanimozhi said, “Income Tax officers reached my house around 8.30 pm. We cooperated with them fully. I asked them if they had the necessary permissions, and they did not give me a proper response.” The DMK leader said that she went on to ask if the I-T officials had the required documents to search her premises. “They did not have it but I allowed them to go on. When I asked them who they wanted to meet, they said ‘candidate, candidate’. This means they wanted to target me as I am the candidate of the DMK alliance,” she said. Kanimozhi also said, “They didn't show me the complaint. They said there was a complaint here. They said nothing was there. This is to bring bad name to the DMK.” Pointing out that the raids against her were not the first against a DMK leader in Thoothukudi, Kanimozhi earlier in April. “Two times Anitha Radhakrishnan (DMK’s Thoothukudi South District Secretary) has been raided. They have searched without any basis. They have unfairly stopped elections in Vellore. They were probably hoping to find something here and use that as a reason to cancel polls in Thoothukudi too. But they were unsuccessful,” she alleged. Alleging that the Election Commission and Income Tax Depart are in an alliance with Modi, Kanimozhi said, “They are attempting to intimidate opposition parties.” She added, “Stalin has asked and I am also asking are they ready to search Tamilisai?” Kanimozhi is the candidate for the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and is up against BJP State President Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is the AIADMK-led alliance’s candidate. Tamil Nadu goes to polls on April 18. After the election to the Vellore seat was cancelled owing to cash seizures from the residence of a DMK candidate, Lok Sabha polls will be held only in 38 out of 39 constituencies. Bye-elections will be held to 18 Assembly seats simultaneously on Thursday. Polls to 4 more Assembly constituencies will be held on May 19. Results will be announced on May 23.<doc-sep>The income tax department raided the house of DMK leader Kanimozhi in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi on Tuesday evening. I-T department sources said the raids are being conducted at Kanimozhi’s house in Kurinji Nagar area of Thoothukudi. Kanimozhi is contesting from Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat against state BJP chief Tamilsai Soundararajan. All the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu go to polls on April 18. Kanimozhi is the sister of DMK chief MK Stalin. “The Election Commission is playing a sick joke on the people of Tamil Nadu,” DMK spokesperson A Saravanan told NDTV. On Sunday night, the Income Tax department and the Election Commission’s flying squad raided the room of Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister, RB Udayakumar at the MLAs’ hostel in Chennai following a tip off that huge amount of cash was being kept there for distribution among voters, but drew a blank. Last week, the I-T department carried out searches on multiple premises belonging to a construction firm and two financiers in Chennai, Namakkal and Tirunelveli. Also read: Polls on Tamil Nadu’s Vellore seat cancelled after huge cash haul I-T raids at the premises of close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath created a huge political controversy last week. The Election Commission held a meeting with Revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey and Central Board of direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Pramod Chandra Mody after allegations by opposition parties that recent raids are politically motivated and are being conducted at the behest of the BJP government. In the past few weeks, raids have also been conducted in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.<doc-sep>Unfazed by the Income Tax raids at her house, DMK leader Kanimozhi on Wednesday said the BJP cannot stop her from winning the Lok Sabha elections. “BJP cannot prevent my success through this income tax raid. The raid is anti-democratic, deliberately planned and tested and no documents have been seized”, the DMK’s candidate from Tamil Nadu’s Thootukudi said, reports ANI. The DMK leader, who is the daughter of late Karunanidhi, added that the BJP was trying to intimidate her. Also Read | Income tax department raids DMK leader Kanimozhi’s house in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi On Tuesday, officials from the income tax department and the Election Commission (EC)searched Kanimozhi’s residence and office, two days before the state votes. According to I-T department officials who refused to be named, the raids were conducted on the basis of a complaint by the returning officer and district magistrate Sandeep Nanduri. “The raids were conducted in Kurinji Nagar at Thoothukkudi. As we received information about cash movement, we launched the raids. About 10 officials from the ECand I-T department have conducted the raids,” said an official in the I-T department on condition of anonymity. Attempts to contact Nanduri were unsuccessful.<doc-sep>
Soon after the Election Commission (EC) cancelled the Lok Sabha election to Vellore Constituency in Tamil Nadu, the Income Tax department conducted raids at the residence of DMK leader Kanimozhi, who is the candidate for the DMK from Tuticorin. The I-T department has now clarified that Kanimozhi cooperated with the team and nothing was found from her residence. The raid was conducted based on tip off alleging that case was being stashed at her residence. The IT officials were unable to find any cash or any other incriminating evidences from the premises. The IT raid at Kanimozhi's residence has not gone down well in the party or amongst the opposition in the state. DMK Chief and Kanimozhi's brother MK Stalin said, "Crores and crores of rupees are kept in the house of Tamilisai Soundararajan's (state BJP chief) residence, why are no raids conducted there?" Post the raids, Kanimozhi speaking to media at Tuticorin said, "We will not be cowed down by these incidents. We will emerge victorious. The ruling party is scared of our victory. They are carrying out raids to tarnish the image of the DMK." "At 8:30 pm, IT officials asked permission to conduct searches at my residence. I quesioned if they have requisite warrant to conduct searches. But they did not have proper answer. Despite that we fully coordinated with the agency. I was issued summons at 9:30 pm and was asked to record a statement at the spot. I feel they are conducting searches because I am the candidate of the opposition. The EC officials accepted that there is no cash or documents found in my house," said Kanimozhi recollecting the course of events. Tamil Nadu is going to polls on the 18th of April in the second phase amid allegations of cash-for-votes across the state. Over Rs 500 crore -- in illegal cash and gold -- has been seized from the state alone so far. Meanwhile, the DMK is also crying foul in the cancellation of the election to the Vellore Lok Sabha seat where DMK treasurer Durai Murugan's son Kathir Anand is the candidate. "Modi is using IT, CBI, judiciary and now Election Commission to interfere in the elections. They are doing this as they fear losing," said MK Stalin.