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Gutka Scam: CBI charges former TN ministers, DGPs
The CBI took over the case from the Tamil Nadu police in 2018 following a Madras high court order. In the same year, the first charge sheet was filed with the central agency charging six accused. Gutka and paan masala have remained banned in Tamil Nadu since 2013
Chennai: The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Tamil Nadu’s two former ministers and two former Directors General of Police in a case related to the illegal sale of gutka in the state, officials in the know of the matter said on Wednesday.
The 17 who have been chargesheeted include C Vijayabaskar, the then Tamil Nadu health minister, B V Ramana, who was minister for commercial taxes, and senior police officers T K Rajendran and S George who retired as DGPs but were indicted for their alleged role in the scam during their tenure as Chennai city police commissioner.
This comes after the ruling DMK government had in July granted permission to the CBI’s Anti-Corruption (III) Unit to prosecute two former state ministers from the AIADMK, two retired DGPs and eight other officers. They are accused of taking bribes amounting to ₹39.91 crore to help transport, store and sell banned gutka products in Chennai.
The CBI took over the case from the Tamil Nadu police in 2018 following a Madras high court order. In the same year, the first charge sheet was filed with the central agency charging six accused. Gutka and paan masala have remained banned in Tamil Nadu since 2013.
The case was infamously known as the “gutka scam” which was unearthed under the previous AIADMK government when officials of the Income Tax had raided a godown in Chennai suburbs belonging to a company which sold MDM brand gutka in July 2016. The I-T officials found a diary with names of those who had been paid and the charge is that they paid kickbacks to ministers and officers and various others to continue selling the banned product.
MDM brand gutka was sold by the promoter-directors of Jayam Industries — A V Madhav Rao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao — even after its ban by allegedly influencing officials, politicians and regulatory authorities, the CBI had said in its FIR, according to news agency PTI. Jayam Industries was rechristened into Annamalai Industries to continue the sale, the agency added.
(With PTI inputs)
