I-T raids on Devaswom board officials yields crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB 25: Income-tax raids on official and residential premises of two Travancore Devaswom Board officers, a former member and a contractor associated with the Sabarimala pilgrimage have unearthed unaccounted money to the tune of several crores of rupees.

The raids, which began on Tuesday and continued till Wednesday morning, on residential and business premises of R Prasad, son of Raghavan, at Soornad – coconut contractor for Sabarimala festival for more than 10 years – brought out investment worth Rs 3 crore, unaccounted bank deposit worth Rs 1 crore Rs 20 lakh in cash. Raghavan, now bed-ridden, had started contract work some 15 years ago.

Prasad, who had taken over the work from his father, had not been filing I-T returns since 1992-93. It was found that Prasad had invested money in ventures like banking, estates and liquor business. The raids were conducted on Sabari Bankers at Nooranad and Thiruvonam Wines at Mavelikkara and Alappuzha, in which Prasad had obtained shares.