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Midday Meal Scam: Rs 2,400 Crore Paid To Top Tamil Nadu Politicians And Bureaucrats, Finds I-T Department
(Photo by Arun Abhi Abhi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Income Tax Department has found documents that expose an alleged link between Christy Friedgram Industry, Tamil Nadu’s flagship noon-meal supplier, and top politicians, bureaucrats and their associates. The analysis of electronic storage and documents seized from Christy Friedgram Industry revealed monetary transactions up to Rs 2,400 crore.
The suspects were summoned after the offence was prima facie established. The reasons why the transactions took place are unknown and are under investigation. The investigation agency will soon be writing to the Tamil Nadu government and other Central agencies and will be sharing the details of the scam, demanding appropriate action from their end. It is claimed that the transactions took place as the company wanted to suppress revenues while filing tax returns.
“Searches conducted at the residence of an IAS officer whose involvement in the scam was suspected had also yielded incriminating documents. Some of the files seized during the raids were classified documents of the Tamil Nadu government, which could not have leaked without the connivance of senior bureaucrats,” quoted an official to The Hindu.
The midday meal scam runs somewhat parallel to the gutkha scam in Tamil Nadu in which the Health Minister, IPS officers and some other officials were bribed with Rs 39.31 crore by MDM gutkha.
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