Gutkha scam: CBI arrests five, including govt officials and MDM gutkha manufacturers; sent to judicial custody till 20 Sept

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested five people in connection with the alleged gutkha scam in Tamil Nadu. Those arrested include promoters of a private gutkha company, AV Madhava Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta; food safety and drug administration official P Senthil Murugan; Superintendent of Central Excise Department NK Pandian; and a person named PV Srinivasa Rao. All of them have been sent to judicial custody till 20 September. The CBI had on Wednesday conducted searches at 35 locations across the country including Chennai, Tiruvallur, Thoothukudi, Puducherry, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Guntur in connection with the case. [caption id=“attachment_2375724” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The places searched were residential premises of the promoters and directors of a company and other public servants including officials of Sales Tax Department, Customs & Central Excise, Food Safety & Drug Administration Department and jurisdictional police officials. The CBI had earlier registered a case on the orders of the Madras High Court dated 26 April. The High Court had directed the CBI to conduct an investigation into all aspects of the offence of alleged illegal manufacture, import, supply, distribution and sale of gutkha and other forms of chewable tobacco which are banned in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. It was alleged that the private company, based in Tamil Nadu was in the business of manufacturing and sale of gutkha and other chewable tobacco products since 2011. Subsequently, production and sale of gutkha was banned in May 2013. During the period when the ban was in force, the promoters/directors of the said company allegedly paid bribes to regulatory authorities and continued with the business of manufacturing and selling of gutkha products illicitly. The scam surfaced in July 2016 when the Income Tax (IT) department raided various properties of a gutkha manufacturer, who was accused of evading taxes of Rs 250 crore­