By Our Business Affairs Bureau
BHUBANESWAR : How TK Seetharam Iyer, who owns a textile store in Kerala’s Thrissur district but his son , TS Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers, now crorepati. Where is CBI? Where is Enforcement Squad? Where is Income Tax, Sales Tax officials?
Kalyan Jewellers recently had withdrawn the controversial advertisement featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The advertisement drawn huge flak after an open letter described it as ‘insidiously chauvinistic for showing Aishwarya reclining under a parasol held over her head by an ‘a dark-skinned slave-boy’.
“A CBI probe into Company’s business in Bhubaneswar, Jajpur Road in Odisha, other cities in India, Abroad, could unearth Kalyanaraman’s illegal gold-diamond empire from Kerala to Odisha,” added an activist. He further added that, Company’s outlet at Vani Vihar Square ( near Utkal University) and in front of office of Deputy Commissioner of Police under Sahid Nagar Police Station in Bhubaneswar creating a lot of traffic problem and law and order problem during festival seasons.
The shift to jewellery from textile was triggered by illegal business. The Company is evading sales tax, income tax, service tax, export-import duties. A raid by CBI, Enforcement Squad, Income Tax, Sales Tax will expose TS Kalyanaraman’s true face, added a source. Asked about it, a senior Police officer in Bhubaneswar said, matter will be looked into, action will be taken if traffic rule violations found at of Kalyan Jewellers outlet.
In Odisha, the Company opened an outlet in Bhubaneswar, which is facing local resistance for the Company’s low quality product and false publicity using Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya to fool the people of Odisha.Several organizations in Bhubaneswar have warned to oppose Company’s Brand Ambassadors Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya if they came to Odisha for the Company work citing the past controversial advertisements featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
The Company false Hallmark print, low quality product and false publicity using advertisements to fool the people of Odisha, will strongly opposed, he added. Most of the Hallmark items should be probed by Indian Bureau of Standards. Company’s weight machine check should probed by weight and measures officials.
TS Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers, had only business asset he inherited from his father, TK Seetharam Iyer, was a textile store in Kerala’s Thrissur district. Starting out as an apparel store in the ’90s, Kalyan’s entrepreneurial journey using illegal means has made it one of India’s largest jewellery chains.Kalyanaraman, 66, has a net worth that is a shade over more than $1.5 billion. He ranked 87 on Forbes’s list of 100 richest Indians in 2014.
