IAS Girija Vaidyanathan has been appointed as the new chief secretary of Tamil Nadu in place of P Rama Mohana Rao.
Vaidynathan was additional chief secretary/commissioner of land administration prior to this.
She will also hold the additional charge of vigilance commissioner and commissioner for administrative reforms - the posts additionally held by Rao.
Rao recently came under the Income Tax department’s scanner and around Rs 30 lakh in new notes was seized after raids were conducted at a total of 11 places linked to him including his residence.
The 24-Hour I-T Raid
The I-T officials’ ended their 24 hour raids at his residence and other locations on Thursday.
Searches began at 5:30 am on Wednesday at Rao’s office at the State Secretariat, his son Vivek’s residence in Thiruvanmiyur and the latter’s in-laws’ house in Chittor in Andhra Pradesh. The raids continued all night.
An Indian Express report says that the assistance of paramilitary forces was sought by the I-T department in order to keep the operations a secret.
A total of Rs 30 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes, five kgs of gold and documents with details of undisclosed assets worth about Rs 5 crore were recovered.
The report informs that a large part of the cash and gold were recovered from Vivek and his in-laws’ residences. Multiple cellphones, SIM cards and other documents were found at Rao’s office.
Three Businessmen Arrested by CBI
Informed sources said the searches of Rao's residence and office were linked to the earlier IT raids on the residence of businessmen J Shekhar Reddy, Srinivasalu and Prem.
The IT department recently seized 177 kg of gold and cash totalling Rs 96 crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 34 crore in new currency from the three.
The CBI arrested all three on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, leaders of the DMK and PMK demanded the immediate dismissal of Rao and called the raids a “disgrace to the state”.
(With inputs from IANS and Indian Express)
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