IT Dept attaches properties linked to V.K. Sasikala

Chennai, Sep 8: The Income Tax Department has seized 11 properties belonging to expelled AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala and her close relatives, T.T.V. Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi, sources said on Wednesday.

Twenty-four acres of land belonging to Sasikala and her relatives worth around Rs 100 crore have been seized by the IT Department, sources said.

The properties spread across 24 acres of land in Payanoor village was allegedly purchased by Sasikala in 1991 and 1996 when late J. Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka Special Court judge, John Michael Cunha, had listed these 11 properties as disproportionate assets of Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, and her close relatives, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran.

Official sources told IANS that the land registration department of Tamil Nadu was informed of the attachment and notices were also put up outside the properties.

Sasikala and her nephew and close associate Dhinakaran are planning to come back to the AIADMK fold and had a meeting with O. Panneerselvam after his wife Vijayalakshmi passed away in Chennai.

While Sasikala held the hands of Panneerselvam under full media glare, Dhinakaran attended the funeral of Vijayalakshmi at the ancestral residence of former Chief Minister Panneerselvam at Theni.

There were speculation that Sasikala had entered into a cordial relationship with Panneerselvam at the behest of the powerful Thevar community to which both the leaders belong.