Chennai, Sept 6: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Promoter of MDM gutkha company AV Madhava Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta in connection with the multi-crore gutkha scam. The multi-crore scam involves illegal import, manufacture and sale of Gutka in Tamil Nadu even after it was banned in 2013 by the then J Jayalalithaa government.

According to a tweet by ANI, food safety and drug administration official, P Senthil Murugan along with superintendent of central excise department NK Pandian and PV Srinivasa Rao were arrested by the CBI earlier today. Reports inform that all the 5 have been sent to judicial custody till September 20.

On Wednesday, the CBI had conducted a massive search operation across 40 places across Chennai in connection with the scam. Reports inform that the residences of Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran at Mogappair, ex-DGP S George near Maduravoyal, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and other police officers were also being searched.

In May, the CBI had taken over the investigation in the gutkha scam allegedly involving a state minister besides a former and a top police official, on the orders of Madras High Court.  The corruption scandal came to light on July 8, 2017, when Income-Tax department raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutkha manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. According to a report by PTI, the manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutkha and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2018 10:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).