The Gutka scam is in news once again and this time for the arrest of four key persons of the scam. Two of the arrested people are the promoters and directors of the Annamalai Industries in Tamil Nadu. Other two are Dr P Senthil Murugan of Food Safety and Drug Administration Department of Tamil Nadu and N K Pandian, who is a superintendent of Central Excise department.
The promoter and directors of the Annamalai industries arrested in the gutka scam are A V Madhava Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta.
The investigating agency had carried out searches at the residence of state police chief T K Rajendran, a probable first in the country, and state health minister C Vijayabaskar. These were among the 35 locations where searches were conducted.
Interestingly, the investigating agency has made sure that every nook and corner is being included in the search operation. Notable are the residences of state police chief T K Rajendran and state health minister C Vijayabaskar who are also not spared from the investigations. The sale of tobacco and pan masala had been banned as illegal in Tamil Nadu in 2013 and despite the ban, the relentless sale of the gutka by Jayam Industries have evoked the recent strict actions by the authority.
A CBI spokesperson says, "The places searched were residential premises of the promoters/directors of the company and other public servants including officials of Sales Tax Department, Customs and Central Excise, Food Safety and Drug Administration Department and jurisdictional police officials."
Despite the ban on the tobacco related products, the promoter-directors of Jayam Industries -- A V Madhav Rao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao had continued selling MDM brand gutka in the state. Notably, for the continued sale of the gutka, Jayam Industries was rechristened into Annamalai Industries.
It was only on July 8, 2017, the scam came into light when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of the company in the state. As the company was facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore, the income tax department had conducted the raid on it.