Tamil Nadu woke up to news of Income Tax raids across 187 locations in the state – many of them targeting the family and businesses of Sasikala, the currently in jail aide of late TN Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and the sidelined general secretary of the AIADMK.
But while the raids were on, what was her nephew and commander-in-chief TTV Dhinakaran doing?
Reporters who landed up at his Chennai residence to get his reaction on the raids were surprised to see a rather strange sight.
TTV Dhinakaran was standing next to a cow – its horns decorated with a string of jasmines, a pottu adorning its forehead. As the benign cow ruminated on whatever it was chewing, TTV's wife Anuradha circled the cow with a lamp in her hand. She sprinkled flowers on the cow, while its calf was suckling on its teat.
Soon, TTV was standing next to his wife Anuradha, who was holding a dozen bananas in her hand. Dhinakaran respectfully presented the cow with a banana from Anuradha’s bunch.
The couple, it turns out, was busy offering prayers to the cows – one can only assume it was an attempt to appease the Income Tax gods.
While the poojai amused onlookers, it also made one thing clear: There were no raids at Dhinakaran’s residence.
A rather calm TTV himself confirmed this when he spoke to the media minutes later:
There are no raids at my home, although an official is here. My farmhouse in Puducherry is being searched.
“What do you think we have at the farmhouse? We have bags of fertiliser,” Dhinakaran laughed. “They’ll only find fertiliser made of cow dung.”
TTV further said that the raids were an attempt to remove him and Sasikala from politics. “These raids are done as per plan by the central government,” he said. “They want to somehow control us and destroy us.”
Pointing a finger at the other AIADMK faction led by his once ally Edappadi Palaniswami and his once rival O Panneerselvam, Dhinakaran said:
They could be doing this for the sake of the two leaves symbol. I just want to tell them – even if they get the two leaves symbol, no one will accept them as AIADMK.
TTV’s lawyer, Kasimanabharathi, told the media that they will not bow down to scare tactics, and will face the issue in court.
"It is very obvious that this is an attempt by the Centre to intimidate us," said the advocate who represents various organisations belonging to the Sasikala family.
"They are conducting raids at Jaya TV and Namadhu MGR because they (the channel and magazine) won't toe the line drawn by O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami. But let me tell them that we won't be scared and can't be coerced into following EPS and OPS," he added.
As part of a ‘Clean Money’ operation, around 10 business houses in Tamil Nadu are being raided, including three which are run and operated by members of Sasikala’s family.
Raids are on in more than 180 locations, including office premises of Jaya TV, Jazz Cinemas and Namadhu MGR, shell companies and other offices and residences. The raids started at 6 30 am on Thursday morning.
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As part of a ‘Clean Money’ operation, around 10 business houses in Tamil Nadu are being raided, including three which are run and operated by members of Sasikala’s family.
Raids are on in more than 180 locations, including office premises of Jaya TV, Jazz Cinemas and Namadhu MGR, shell companies and other offices and residences. The raids started at 6 30 am on Thursday morning.
As part of a ‘Clean Money’ operation, around 10 business houses in Tamil Nadu are being raided, including three which are run and operated by members of Sasikala’s family.
Raids are on in more than 180 locations, including office premises of Jaya TV, Jazz Cinemas and Namadhu MGR, shell companies and other offices and residences. The raids started at 6 30 am on Thursday morning.
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
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