Chennai: The CBI on Friday seized 11 cars belonging to BCCI chief and India Cements promoter N Srinivasan as part of its ongoing raids in Chennai, sources said. The sources added that Srinivasan had evaded paying tax on the imported cars.
Apart from Srinivasan, the CBI also raided the residences of the chancellor of a medical college, several other businessmen and the MGM Group of Companies.
The CBI seized seven cars from the Chancellor of Sri Ramchandra Medical college, five vehicles from GK Shetty Ramanna, two each from the MGM Group of companies and Raja Shankar, and one automobile from the owner of JRA Towers group.
According to the CBI, the Chennai car imports scam is perhaps the biggest of its kind in India. The scam, in which officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence are also believed to be involved, has caused a loss of nearly Rs 50 crore to the government exchequer.
Earlier on Friday, the CBI seized 33 cars after raids across the city and the state. The raids were carried out at the residences of several DRI officials and the alleged mastermind of the racket, Alex Joseph, who has evaded arrest.
The raids came a day after the residence of DMK's political heir MK Stalin was searched allegedly for an imported Hummer. The operations, however, were called off soon after the opposition targeted the government, calling the raids "political vendetta", as they came just days after the DMK withdrew support from the coalition government.