IT Raids Impact: Girija Vaidyanathan Replaces Rama Mohana Rao As TN Chief Secretary

Chennai: In a swift move, the Tamil Nadu government appointed Girija Vaidyanathan as the new chief secretary of the state replacing the incumbent P Rama Mohana Rao following IT raids at the latter's residence and recovery of huge quantity of cash and gold.

Girija Vaidyanathan will also hold full additional charge of Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms, the government order said. She is currently, the Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Land Administration. An officer of the 1981 batch of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Girija Vaidyanathan has about two-and-a-half years to go for retirement.

According to IT sources, around 100 Income Tax sleuths conducted raids at the office and the residence of the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, his son Vivek and some relatives in Chennai and Chittoor in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

It may be recalled that during the 24-hour-long raid, Income Tax officials reportedly recovered Rs 30 lakh cash in new notes and 5 kgs of gold besides getting "disclosure" about Rs 5 crore of unaccounted income. Rs 96 crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes was also seized, reports said. The IT officials had raided Rao's residence early Wednesday morning. The raid ended on Thursday after 24 hours.

The raids come as a huge embarrassment for the AIADMK government as Rao was considered a close confidant of both Jayalalithaa and Sasikala.