Rs 35 cr booty: Chiranjeevi dismisses links with IT raids

Cartons stuffed with Rs 35 crore in cash were found at the Chennai residence of actor-politician Chiranjeevi's daughter, Sushmita, reported NDTV.The raids were conducted at the residence of his businessman son-in-law Vishnu Prasad in a posh locality and I-T officials are learnt to have recovered cash running into a few crores, sources said.Different teams of officials conducted raids at various properties in the city belonging to Prasad, Chiranjeevi's elder son-in-law and the raids which started on Friday went on till Saturday, sources added.[caption id="attachment_308673" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="AFP"][/caption]Today, officials confirmed that "Cash was found neatly packed in 35 carton boxes, each containing Rs 1 crore in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, according to NDTV.However, Chiranjeevi dismissed news reports linking him with the raids at the premises of his son-in-law and some of his distant relatives, saying they were aimed at "maligning" his image."I condemn such reports and declare categorically that I have no connection whatsoever with the IT raids. I appeal to all concerned to uphold good journalistic practices," he said in a statement.Referring to media reports on the raids, he said some of them linked him to the raids on 12 May 2012 which were "politically motivated and aimed at tarnishing my image".He asserted that he was a regular tax payer and has a "blemishless" reputation. "I am also a recipient of the Samman Award given to meritorious tax payers by the Income Tax Department," he said.Chiranjeevi, a Rajya Sabha member, said on Saturday there were some raids carried out on the relatives of his son-in-law who have several businesses in Chennai.As part of those raids, some searches were carried out at his son-in-law's places in Chennai, he said, adding these raids were part of the standard procedures and investigation by the IT Department.Maintaining that he was in no way connected with the raids, Chiranjeevi said the distant relatives of his son-in-law have owned up money found in his house.With inputs from PTI