One of the alleged “benamidars” of AIADMK former general secretary V.K. Sasikala has preferred an appeal against the refusal of a single judge to interfere with an inquiry initiated by the Income Tax department into a group case of her having used ₹1,674.50 crore in demonetised currency notes to buy several malls and mills across the State in November 2016.
Justices R. Mahadevan and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad refused to pass interim orders on the writ appeal without hearing the I-T department. They directed the appellant’s counsel N.V. Balaji to serve the papers on M. Sheela, special public prosecutor of the I-T department, forthwith and posted the case to April 18.
The appeal had been filed by D.V. Balaji in connection with the reported sale of Spectrum Mall at Perambur in Chennai. His counsel pointed out that the proceedings initiated against all other individuals in the batch case was based on copies of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), recovered by the I-T sleuths, with respect to the alleged benami transaction.
