In a stunning development, actor-turned politician Chiranjeevi's son-in-law, Vishnu Prasad, has come under the income tax net with I-T sleuths conducting raids on his business and residential premises in the city for close to two days.

The development could possibly have political repercussions in the volatile politics of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The raids which commenced on Friday morning continued till Saturday and yielded in seizure of incriminating documents and cartons of unaccounted cash. The operation was carried out by the local unit of the Income Tax Department based on a tip-off.



Prasad is married to Sushmita, the elder daughter of Chiranjeevi, who had merged his Praja Rajyam party with the Congress and is awaiting a berth in the Union Cabinet.

While raids were carried out on his house in the up-market Poes Garden area close to the residence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, five other teams were engaged in the simultaneous raids on other places in the city. They included the residential premises and offices of both Prasad and his father Siva Prasad.



According to an I-T official, 35 cartons, containing currency bundles, were seized from the store room of the Poes Garden residence of Prasad and the same has been sent to a nationalised bank for verification and to be accounted for. The cash in each carton was estimated to be approximately Rs one crore.

Though I-T officials remained tight-lipped about the sensational seizures, it was maintained that a clear picture would emerge only after evaluation of the valuables, cash and documents seized during the raid.

Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi clarified to the media in Hyderabad that the I-T raids on the house of his son-in-law in Chennai had nothing to do with him or his daughter. "As I understand, the I-T raids on my son-in-law's house were part of the raids conducted on the house of his another uncle Nandagopal, who happens to be a big businessman. They were all routine raids and if there are any illegal transactions or unaccounted monies, I am sure the I-T officials will disclose them. In what way I am concerned with it?" he asked.

The Congress MP refuted the speculations made by a section of media channels that the money seized by the I-T authorities from his son-in-law's residence belonged to him and that he had kept the money with his daughter so as to spend it in the forthcoming by-elections. "These reports are totally baseless. These channels are trying malign me," he said.