Tamil Nadu bureaucrat P Rama Mohana Rao on Tuesday described the income-tax searches at his residence and office as a “constitutional assault” on the office of the Chief Secretary, a post he held till the December 21 swoop.

Rao was removed as Chief Secretary a day after income-tax authorities conducted searches at 10 locations associated with him and his son Vivek Papisetty. The State government had then appointed Girija Vaidyanathan to the top job.

‘No security in State’

In a statement issued at his residence, Rao said the authorities had acted on a search warrant in the name of his son, but entered his house instead – even though his son did not live there – and his office at the Secretariat, even when he was the State’s Chief Secretary. Adding a political twist to the incident, he said there was no security in the State following the demise of “madam” J Jayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister. Rao said he had served as the late CM’s Secretary during her previous tenure and she had made him Chief Secretary when she returned to power.

“I follow in madam’s footsteps. In this State, in the absence of madam, there is no security,” he said.

He claimed he was yet to get a copy of his transfer order, maintaining that he continued to be Chief Secretary. “I was the Chief Secretary, and I am the Chief Secretary,” he asserted.

Media reports had said that the searches at the 10 locations associated with Rao and his son were triggered following revelations by Sekhar Reddy, a PWD contractor and prominent businessman. Searches conducted earlier on the premises of Reddy and his partners had yielded over ₹100 crore in cash, including new currencies, and over 120 kg of gold.

Rao claimed the officials had found only ₹1.2 lakh in cash, 50 sovereigns of gold and about 25 kg of silver prayer items in his house. He said there were no incriminating documents, while denying any business links with Reddy.

This is at variance with what I-T officials had said: they had then claimed that over ₹18 lakh in new denomination currency, 2 kg bullion and documents relating to ₹5 crore worth of unaccounted property wererecovered.

DMK, BJP flay media meet

Meanwhile, political parties in the Opposition have condemned Rao’s press meet.

Leader of Opposition MK Stalin, who is the DMK Treasurer, said Chief Minister O Panneerselvam owed the State an explanation for Rao’s assertion that he continued to be the Chief Secretary. Searches being conducted within the administrative headquarters of the State were also of grave concern, Stalin said.

BJP State President Tamizhisai Soundararajan said Rao “cannot continue to be an officer because his attitude is very wrong”. She said he appeared to have a political agenda, and had been ‘instigated’ by somebody to hold a press meet to defend himself.

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