NEW DELHI, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Indian income tax (IT) officials raided the residence of late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden in Chennai city, the capital of southern state Tamil Nadu, officials said Saturday.
The IT officials reached the residence at around 10:00 p.m. local time on Friday and conducted searches for four to five hours.
"It was a limited exercise," local TV news channel quoted a senior tax official as having said. "We searched only the office of S. Poongundran personal secretary of Jayalalithaa and two rooms of VK Sasikala."
The raids, according to officials, were part of raids at Jaya TV and family members of sidelined jailed AIADMK party leader Sasikala.
Reports said the officials raided certain rooms inside the building, excluding the rooms of Jayalalithaa.
No sooner the news about raid on Poes Garden spread, several AIADMK cadres gathered in front of the residence of their beloved leader and started staging protests. Police took several of them into custody.
Jayalalithaa's long-time aide, Sasikala, had continued to live in this house after Jayalalithaa's death in December last year, until she was arrested in a corruption case on the orders of the Supreme Court.
Before her arrest, Sasikala was named as the general secretary of ruling AIADMK. However, her elevation to the top party post saw factionalism affecting the AIADMK, following which she was removed.
