Even as the Income Tax department raided Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao's residence this morning, we are being told that he was in fact in New Delhi till yesterday evening. The assumption that is being made is that his Delhi visit was to ensure that the raids would not take place. Which of course means that Rao had prior intimation that the raids would take place.

When he met the Prime Minister with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam, the PMO had already been briefed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes that raids were possible.

Rao spent an hour with an union minister who hails from Andhra Pradesh to ensure that the finance ministry was asked to go slow on the raids.

That the union minister's efforts did not yield positive results is another matter. The tax raids this morning at his residence and official premises of yielded bundles of cash in new denominations amounting to crores in the bedroom.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the house was raided following inputs given by the IT Dept and other agencies.