CHENNAI:

Income tax department searches of Chennai-based

SPK and Co

, which executes road contract work for Tamil Nadu state highways, had yielded Rs 170 crore in cash and 105 kg of gold till Tuesday evening, the second day of the searches, a senior I-T investigation wing official said.

While searches at most locations owned by Nagarajan Seyyadurai, the founder of the company, and his close associates and employees were completed about 38 hours after they began, I-T officials shifted focus to a jeweller in the city who had allegedly helped

Seyyadurai

convert cash into gold ornaments and bars. The sleuths also visited some banks, both public sector and private, in Chennai and Madurai to check the transactions of Seyyadurai’s firms. Many accounts that witnessed high-value transactions have been identified for detailed scrutiny, the official said.

This is the highest seizure of cash and gold in I-T searches in Tamil Nadu after those against sand contractor Sekhar Reddy during demonetisation.