After Thursday’s raids conducted by the Income Tax department on the residence and premises of M.K. Rajendran Pillai, who retired as Addl.S.P Nagaland Police six years ago and who has been re-employed under contract continuously as Consultant to DGP Nagaland, ACAUT in a statement has said it could just be the tip of the iceberg.
ACAUT media cell said the IT raids on 30 premises of Sreevalsam group belonging to Pillai revealed assets of more than Rs.1000 crore and it was also believed he was the “front man of politicians and bureaucrats in Nagaland” for illegal diversion of central funds. ACAUT said the magnitude of the scam could only be known after a thorough probe to expose the nexus between politicians and bureaucrats.
ACAUT hit out against those involved as “buffoons and scoundrels” who were unable to manage the affairs of the state by allowing “unscrupulous non-locals in the likes of Tinku, Dinnath and Pillai”, to run control and manipulate the state. ACAUT said these persons have no concern for the welfare of Nagas, but who have been given “safe haven to do their nefarious activities of looting and running the show in the state, shaming the entire Naga intellect.”
It said the IT raids on the business premises owned by Pillai should serve as a revelation and also a wake up call for IT department in Nagaland including the State Vigilance Commission (SVC). ACAUT wondered what the IT and SVC in Nagaland had been doing all these years. It said it was unfortunate, that in other states the IT department and SVC were the most feared institutions. ACAUT said in Nagaland SVC was “reduced to mere decorative arm of the state” and the IT a mere Income Tax exemption certificate issuing authority.
ACAUT demanded that IT in Nagaland ought to extend help to the probe and should also act on its own to unearth more shady dealings. It also demanded that SVC thoroughly investigate Pillai’s stint in service as consultant and look into his proxy business in Nagaland.
Further, ACAUT said corruption in Nagaland has gone beyond limit of sanity and the exposes and revelations no longer “seem to incite anger” on people anymore nor shame on the offender. It urged upon Naga public to wake up from this “evil spell and restore the dignity and pride as a people.”
IT to probe if central funds illegally diverted
KOCHI, JUN 10 (AGENCIES): In what seems to be a major scam allegedly involving politicians and high ranking officials in Nagaland, the Income Tax department (intelligence and criminal investigation) in Kochi has unearthed unaccounted money worth Rs 400 crore from a firm owned by MKR Pillai, a former Addl. SP of Nagaland Police and presently a consultant (MT) of the department.
Pillai is suspected to be a front man for Nagaland’s politicians and top bureaucrats. I-T sleuths are probing whether government funds, especially central funds for the state, were illegally diverted and later transferred through Pillai. Intense grilling of Pillai is on the cards, the sleuths informed the media. I-T officials also found a truck belonging to the Nagaland Police parked in front of Pillai’s house at Pandalam.
Pillai had been allegedly smuggling currency notes, gold and other commodities to Kerala in the safety police trucks for more than 10 years, the income tax department said after the raids. “Our official met up with Pillai during the raid here. It’s too early for us to give any quantification of the seizure,” an IT official told IANS. Simultaneous raids were conducted in Kerala, Karnataka, Nagaland and Delhi after doubts emerged that Pillai’s Sreevalsam Group, worth Rs 1,000 crore, was involved in suspicious financial dealings. I-T sleuths began investigating after they found that Pillai had declared assets worth of Rs 50 crore following demonetization last year. The net worth of Pillai was found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income. Pillai, who joined Nagaland Police as a constable in Mokokchung in 1971, retired as an Addl. SP. He received the President’s police medal for Meritorious Service in 2005.
Called ‘Pillai Sir’ across Nagaland, he is known to have close links with top politicians and is influential in police headquarters there.
Sreevalsam Group has a variety of business interests including jewellery, textiles, gold loan, resorts and schools in Kerala and other states. “The group also has businesses in Nagaland started in the name of benami owners,” I-T sleuths said. “An additional Rs 100 crore will be declared voluntarily by the group as taxable assets. Proceedings have been started against MKR Pillai and his sons,” said a senior I-T official.
The Sreevalsam Group, however, denied any wrongdoing. The business executives maintained that I-T department had merely asked them to clarify certain documents before a deadline but failed to explain the presence of the police truck.
Nagaland DGP LL Doungel told Times of India, “I am concerned. MKR Pillai is currently away on leave and will be back here next week. Let him come back and it will be better to gather from him whatever is there in the case.”
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