The Income Tax (I-T) department on Wednesday conducted searches on premises belonging to a few contractors and suppliers of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco).
While the officials did not disclose details, it is learnt that in Chennai, the I-T department conducted searches in 11 places, including the house of Tangedco’s financial officer Kasi. According to sources in the Electricity department, the officials searched the offices of contractors engaged by Tangedco, including Radha Engineering, VS Enterprises, Adinath Steel and Abijenix Bio Solutions, and offices at Egattur, Jafferkhanpet, Anna Nagar and Mathur.
In Thoothukudi, I-T officials conducted surprise checks in the offices of a private firm that built a conveyor belt for taking imported coal from the VOC Port to the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS).
Sources in TTPS said a Chennai-based private firm, which had executed various projects for TTPS and other thermal power stations across Tamil Nadu, had installed the conveyor belt. The I-T officials suspect tax evasion to the tune of several crores of rupees in the works carried out in the thermal power stations when V. Senthilbalaji, now in judicial custody, was the Minister for Electricity.
“The private firm set up the conveyor belt at a cost of ₹250 crore and is maintaining it as per the conditions of the contract. A total of 14 I-T officials conducted the search. While nine officials checked the records in the coal uploading point in the VOC Port, five officials searched for documents in the unloading point on the TTPS campus. The managers of these points were questioned by the I-T officials,” said a source, adding that the sub-contractors of the Chennai-based firm were also quizzed.
