Chennai: The ED officials conducted searches at sites linked to the prominent real estate firm G-Square in Chennai.
Raids are in progress at over 20 locations across the city, including key areas such as Mylapore, Alwarpet, and Anna Nagar.
Additionally, Income Tax officials are conducting simultaneous raids at more than 10 places, including an IT company in Taramani and the office of Vels University in Nandanam, Chennai.
The company operated at a loss from 2017 to 2020 but witnessed a significant surge in assets in the subsequent years following the DMK’s rise to power.
The Income Tax Department had previously raided the company in 2019 and reportedly seized crucial documents during a sweep conducted six months ago. IT sources then said that they had received a tip-off about income suppression and money being routed to evade taxes. It also alleged that G-Square had aggregated land for big corporates to set up manufacturing plants and IT parks in Tamil Nadu.
‘The company has been witnessing a meteoric rise after DMK coming to power’, claimed Opposition parties.
G Square was formed in October 2012, G Square Realtors as a private company. It was registered with the Registrar of Companies in Chennai.
In its statement last G-Square said the alleged valuation of the company’s assets is grossly inaccurate and entirely unfounded. It maintained that the company’s assets and liabilities are public records, available through the Registrar of Companies, which would disprove the claimed revenue holding of Rs 38,827.70 cr. G Square has a paid-up capital of just one lakh. It stated that all claims and allegations against it were false and baseless.
‘Over the past few months, our organisation has been subjected to unwarranted persecution from multiple fronts through unfounded allegations with no evidence to back them up. Even though it has been an incredibly challenging time for us’, the statment said.
Meanwhile, Enforcement Directorate sleuths on Thursday began searches in the house of former AIADMK minister C Vijayabaskar in Pudukottai.
The ED searches against the former health minister are based on a state vigilance (DVAC) investigation of 2022. The probe is linked to an alleged case of possession of disproportionate assets. Earlier, the AIADMK strongman was booked by the CBI in a “gutkha scam”.